The month of August was originally called “Sextilis” in ancient Roman calendar but renamed in honour of Emperor Augustus Caesar in 8 BCE , reflecting his significant military and political achievements, including the conquest of Egypt. Historically, August has also been a month of significant events, from the abolition of slavery in Jamaica to the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Yet for many others, August is a time for summer holidays.
The word August comes from the latin augustus, meaning a ” venerable “, ” consecrated” or ” great”, a fitting tribute to Emperor Caesar. Back home in Nigeria,August 24 , 1937, was the day the presumed winner of the June 12 , Presidential elections, Late Moshood Abiola, was born .However for Nigerian Shipowners, August was meant to be a month of expectation.
The month Nigeria’s Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Chief Adegboyega Oyetola had “decreed”that the country’s indigenous shipowners would finally have a bite of the controversial Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF, for which they had waited for 22 years, and for which about $1b had been collected. For them, August was a dream month. The month that would bring to an end, over 22 years of expectation. But sadly, August failed to visit. What shipowners see at NIMASA Towers , Victoria Island, Lagos is a grave yard silence, a seeming exacerbation of their years frustration. But who should indeed carry the burden of renewing their hope? Is it the 12 Primary Lending Institutions , PLIs? Or the shipowners, some of whom have died waiting on the queue, hoping to have a bite of the pie? Or is itcNIMASA? Regrettably, no one has come up with any credible explanation as to who should bell the cat for the failure to meet the August 2025 threshold for the disbursement of the CVFf as promised by the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry. My attempts to get officials of either the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy or NIMASA to offer an explanation was futile, except for a source at NIMASA who confided in me that ” a meeting was being put together next week for an engagement with stakeholders. “.Speaking on the development, a shipowner and Member of Nigeria Indigenous Shipowners Associations, Prince Ayorinde Adedoyin expressed doubts about government’s seriousness in releasing the fund. He said. ” Dont let us deceive ourselves,the issue is so deep that sometimes I worry if this thing( CVFF) will ever be disbursed. On his part, President of NISA, Mr Shola Adewumi says NIMASA had made it clear to shipowners that it was not a lending agency and had shifted the responsibility to the PLIs. According to him, the present arrangement requires the PLIs to analyse and recommend a shipowner for financing, but that the final approval still depends on NIMASA. Adewunmi criticized the process, stressing that the complexity of ship acquisition compared to other consumer loans. ” I told them ( stakeholders) that there is a huge difference between the process of acquiring a ship and buying a car. A ship is not something you go to the market and buy overnight, even passenger boats take over a year in construction. There’s no shipowner today that would say he has gotten the loan”, he concluded. So far the baton for the race to disburse the CVFF in the past 22 years has been shifting from one Director General to another. For instance from Mfom Usoro, to Ade Dosummu, to Temi Omatseye, to Patrick Akpobolokaemi, and then to Dakuku Peterside and Dr Bashir Jamoh before landing at door steps of Dayo Mobereola, the current helmsman.
As we await next week’s stakeholders engagement,the question on the lips of Nigeria shipowners is ” how sincere is government on its commitment to the disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, which has the potential of turning around the fortunes of Nigeria’s Marine and Blue Economy? Will Dr Dayo Mobereola break the jinx?Only time will tell.