Ship owners have expressed optimism that the change in the management and the board of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will not affect the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF).
Recall that the Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi had set up a committee headed by the former Director General of NIMASA Dr. Dakuku Peterside to look into the disbursement of the fund and develop guidelines for the disbursement. He said the panel, selected from among shipowners, would review existing guidelines and come up with a workable document.
The Minister had said part of the economic benefits of the disbursement of the fund would be creation of employment for Nigerians and enhancement of indigenous capacity in the maritime industry, which will help grow the Nigerian economy.
But, speaking to Shipping Position Daily a ship owner; Capt Taiwo Akinpelumi expressed confidence in the new leadership of NIMASA, stating that it is better to have the CVFF delayed than the wrong thing to be done; he said the new Director General is passionate about the disbursement and has shown that he is not in any way in support of wrongful disbursement.
According to him, “it’s better to have the CVFF delayed than to be disbursed wrongfully. The new DG is very passionate about the disbursement and it’s not in any way in support of disbursing wrongfully, everything thing that has to be done has to be done and the proper way of coming out with new guidelines for disbursement will be followed for disbursement to take place that will cover all sections of the CVFF and will make the stakeholders happy. So we have absolute confidence in this new leadership and we know that the right thing will be done” he said.
Speaking also to our correspondent, the President of Nigeria Indigenous Ship Owners Association (NISA) Mr Aminu Umar expressed confidence in the new leadership stating that with the numbers of years the new DG has spent in NIMASA it will make the disbursement easier .
“I don’t think it will affect it, as a matter of fact, the minister had selected the committee and the chairman of that committee is the DG of NIMASA, so with the new management the committee will still be there and the moment the committee is able to revert to the minister with the guideline, the disbursement can commence, so I don’t see any delay in the disbursement.”
“Also the new DG is somebody who has been in NIMASA for over two decades, so there is nothing he doesn’t know about the CVFF, the guidelines and the application, so I think it will even make it easier”, he said.
On his part, Capt Tajudeen Alao, President of Nigeria Masters Mariners (NAMM) also opined that the change in leadership should not affect the disbursement of CVFF, but that the stakeholders need to brace-up and put pressure on the minister of transportation to do the needful.
“No not all, it won’t, it is the stakeholders that need to brace up, it’s only the chairman that is out.
“According to the Act, it is purely between the Minister and the National Assembly, it is not a NIMASA affair, so we should look at it from that angle, once the stakeholders keep the momentum going and put pressure on the Minister of Transportation to do the needful”.
He urged that there is need to carry out critical assessment of the industry to know the area of need in the industry before the disbursement of the fund.
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