Shipping operators will benefit from N22bn Cabotage Fund – NIMASA

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The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said that only shipping operators would benefit from the 150 million dollars

The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said that only shipping operators would benefit from the 150 million dollars (N22.5 billion) Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund.

The Director General of NIMASA, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, told newsmen in Lagos that the agency would not be stampede in giving out the funds.

“We are going to take our time to see who and who are businessmen and give the funds to business people,’’ he said. He said that the agency would want beneficiaries to produce evidence of their bank accounts and obtain undertakings from their banks.

Akpobolokemi said that the abuse of the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund would not be replicated, saying that some people collected the funds and did not repay. He said that no amount of pressure would make him disburse the funds to those that were not in shipping business.

“Efforts to implement the Cabotage regime are on and a committee has been set up on how to properly implement the scheme,’’ he said. According to him, 50 per cent of the nation’s crude should be carried by Nigerians, but this has not materialised due more to political reasons. The job is 100 per cent hijacked by foreign ship owners. We have met with indigenous ship owners in Nigeria and made presentations to government.

”We will soon host ship owners and oil multinationals companies to take definite steps in terms of implementation of cabotage regime,” he said.  Akpobolokemi said that this major problem could be solved by compelling the NNPC and other multinational companies to give indigenous ship owners the desired cargo rights.

He said NIMASA was making efforts to get states to be more interested in the National Seafarers’ Development Programme (NSDP). Akpobolokemi said that the agency could not apply any force as it was the prerogative of the states to participate in the programme.