•Express concern over delayed guidelines

By Godwin Oritse  

Ahead of the anticipated disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), indigenous shipowners have commenced merger discussions to enhance ability to access the fund.

Meanwhile the shipowners have expressed   concerns over the delay in the release of the operational guidelines by the   Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA).

Speaking to Vanguard ahead of a scheduled stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, President,   Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association (NISA), Otunba Sola Adewumi, emphasized that such guidelines should have been shared with local maritime operators well in advance to ensure transparency and preparedness.

Adewumi also said that the agency has had a number of engagements with shipowners before now but the issue of the guidelines regarding the Fund was never raised.

He explained that merger talks are ongoing adding that whoever can access the Fund alone can do so considering what the 15 percent equity Funding may amount to.

Adewumi said: “As for the mergers, there will be mergers, individuals that have the capacity can go ahead and apply alone, that is the position of our association.

“The most important thing is the guidelines which I believe NIMASA wants to discuss with stakeholders at the meeting coming up in the next few days.

“NIMASA has said that it is not a lending agent and that is the essence of having the Primary Lending Institutions, PLIs and if we are to go by the former status quo, it is the banks that will assess the prospective borrower and confirm his or her ability to pay back and once the ability to pay back is confirmed then they will recommend to NIMASA and then NIMASA will approve the disbursements of the money.

Similarly, Engr Akin Olaniyan, President, Centre for Marine Surveyors in Nigeria, said that the policy is good but the implementation is always the issue.

He explained that NIMASA should not have been part of the process suggesting that a Maritime Bank be established where the PLIs will apply for the Fund and disburse to individual applicants.

“Good policy, good initiative but when it comes to implementation, it always falls flat on the face and this has always been a recurring decimal.

“It is easy to come to a conclusion, the policy makers do not think through things before they come to conclusions and as such, everything falls flat on its face and I just hope this one will not,   because inevitably everybody will benefit.

“That way the PLIs will be held responsible for any failure should there be a default.”