The Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) is intact with the government and will be disbursed after getting things right, the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Mobereola has stressed.
Speaking during an interactive session with maritime journalists in Lagos on Monday, Mobereola explained that the agency has to thread with caution and ensure that disbursing the fund will be beneficial to all inorder to avoid the mistake of the past disbursement of Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Funds (SASBF) which in the long run did not benefit either the industry, the government and even the beneficiaries.
The Director General lamented that the way SASBF was disbursed then allowed for the way the loan was mismanaged.
He noted that there should be assurance of cargoes for CVFF vessels before disbursement, maintaining that the issue of cargoes for CVFF ships is of priority and is being considered before the disbursement.
He stated that when disbursed, the CVFF must impact positively on the growth of Nigeria’s maritime industry and the economy.
His words: “We are looking for opportunity to ensure that CVFF, when disbursed, will impact the growth of the industry. We have to continue to interact with stakeholders. We are working on ensuring that there are enough cargoes for the CVFF ships to lift.”
Mobereola decried the call for a national shipping fleet, saying floating of a national shipping line by the federal government is not the way to go.
He argued that ship owning should be private sector driven.
According to the NIMASA boss, private sector should own vessels that will fly Nigerian Flag and the agency is committed to working on that.
On the Modular Floating Dock, he said the floating dock was inherited by his administration and there are many proposals on his table and he is diligently studying them so as to come up with a plan that will put the floating dock into a profitable venture.
“We have inspected The dock. We want to put it into use as soon as possible so to earn revenue, create employment, and train our cadets. We need to do it right,” he said.