If the famed founder of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Pastor T. B. Joshua, were alive, I would have mobilized the rank and file of Nigerian indigenous ship owners to his Church for a seven-day dry fasting to break this 18 years jinx that has made the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) a mission impossible. Or maybe I should consider Rev. Fr. Mbaka or the maverick pastor Indaboski for this divine intervention which seems to be the only option left.
If there is any indigenous group that has never benefited from any direct government bail out in the last two decades, it is the Nigeria ship owner. From the Obasanjo administration to late Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari, various sectors of Nigeria’s economy, including aviation, agriculture, energy, oil and gas, among others have benefited from one form of intervention or the other.
But not so for the shipping industry. On May 9, 2024 at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, a former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Temi Omatseye, said at a stakeholders’ engagement with Dr. Dayo Mobereola, the incumbent DG of the apex maritime agency, the Federal Government was not in any way disposed to the prompt disbursement of the CVFF. His remark attracted boos and jeers from the audience. Omatseye said he was neither opposed to the establishment of the fund nor its disbursement, but argued that the current Cabotage Act under which CVFF was established cannot be disbursed with the current status of the law.
Section 3.1 of the Cabotage Act explains that there will be a CVFF Fund which shall be utilized by the Agency (NIMASA) to offer financial assistance to funding by financial institutions with the sole aim of increasing indigenous acquisition capacity…and that disbursement shall be subject to the approval of the Minister of Transportation (Marine and Blue Economy) on recommendation by NIMASA. The Act also defined those who are eligible to benefit from the scheme. And that such persona must be Nigerian citizens and shipping companies wholly owned by Nigerian citizens as defined by the Act . The Act also explained that there should be Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) identified by NIMASA through which the funds would be disbursed to the beneficiaries.
Speaking recently at a Media Stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, Dr. Mobereola took time to explain why it seemed impracticable to make disbursements, as his Administration was not ready to repeat the mistakes made during the moribund Ship Building and Ship Acquisition and Fund (SASBF). The NIMASA helmsman said between the time the SASBF was jettisoned and now, a lot of changes had occurred in the sector and that this was why a complete overhaul of the process was imperative.
Expectedly, the comment by Mobereola has continued to attract mix reactions from ship owners and stakeholders who are unhappy about the seeming reluctance on the part of NIMASA to commence its disbursement. Apart from the issue of the conflicting figures as to how much has been warehoused in the CVFF account, they are quick to point out that a similar fund launched only a few years ago by Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has made a huge impact in the oil and gas industry.
One commentator who does not want to be named said: “I can tell you categorically that there’s no kobo in that account,” as opposed to the declaration by Mobereola that the money was intact. It is on record that every Administration that has come on Board at NIMASA would offer to tinker with guidelines for the disbursement of the fund. The only NIMASA boss who got close to the finish line was the immediate past administration of Dr. Bashir Jamoh.
Jamoh himself had promised during his inauguration on March 10, 2020, that he would preside over the first disbursement of the CVFF, a promise that he could not fulfill before his exit.
Nigerian shipowners have been counting their losses due to the serial failure by the Federal Government to fulfill what they see as the most important aspect of the Cabotage Act. But as indigenous ship owners count their losses, their foreign counterparts have been having a field day since oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State in commercial quantity in 1958.
What makes the reluctance of the Federal Government to activate the CVFF intriguing is that the indigenous shipping community is not asking for funds to be taken from the federal treasury or Federation Account to be disbursed to them as is the case with the bail out for other sectors. The money was generated from tax imposed on shipping operations and legally dedicated to prop up the fortunes and capacity of the local shipping industry. There is no logical argument to defend the reluctance.