"I am still a member of NISA, there is nothing like breaking away"‎

Engineer Greg Ogbeifun is the Chief Executive Officer of Starz Investment Limited, a ship building and vessel-owning company, he is also a member of Nigerian Shipowners Association of Nigeria (NISA)‎ until recently when he and few other members of the association formed a parallel association; Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN). He spoke with maritime reporters in Lagos recently on salient issues in the maritime industry; especially the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). Shipping Position Daily Dapo Olawuni was there.

NIMASA has spent N20billion to train NSDP cadets, if the money is given to shipowners, how would they have done?
In the first place, there should even be no talk of giving money to ship owners, if there is a budget in the system, the Merchant Navy Board can be funded from that budget, like we have the Industrial Training Fund whereby establishment are required that they have trained their staff and then ITF would reimburse. Such a thing can be done to encourage shipowners make their beds available, there is a policy that says that if you show verifiable evidence; where such a board can verify that you have really taken a child from ND1 to ND2 and you have paid the fees and allowances, all your expenditures can be reimbursed to you from such a fund. Don’t forget that right now those who are engaging in training are doing so from their pockets‎, so if anybody now comes and offer to pay me back, it is an incentive for me to do more. These are things that should be done with money without calling shipowners to give billions.

What is your advice to NIMASA on NSDP?
It is very simple, I will articulate a proposal‎, I will start by inviting shipowners and thanking them for the efforts they are making for the cadets, and ask them if they can make those efforts more feasible. After getting the shipowners on board, I will go to Maritime Academy of Nigeria or even look at the NSDP, why are they going abroad? Maybe in our institutions there are some gaps, why can't we just bring those institutions to the standard of what we are looking for, it doesn't have to be a university, I know one of the challenges they are having presently is adequate mariners, and now they are beginning to come, they think there is a gap in MAN Oron but I don't think so, MAN Oron produced people like me and many others. The maritime academies in the country have shown standard by producing people like us, but what is missing is that only a very small percentage of the students on Oron have identity also, working with NIMASA, ship owners can now go to Oron and copy what NLNG is doing, the burden of these children now become the shipowners’ burden. At the end of the year, if MAN Oron is producing 400 cadets they will have where to operate.

What are the impediments to ship building in Nigeria?
It is very simple, first of all our infrastructures are deficient, power supply, we have many steel industry that are not functioning, if our power was reasonable and our steel industry was active, then the fundamental requirements to start building ships are already there. But let me clarify that there is a fundamental difference between a ship repair yard and a ship building yard, if Starz Investments today gets‎ a large sum of money to build a yard that can repair a vessel, unless the classification societies accredit that shipyard, it will not go anywhere, so in building of shipyards, it is not just the structure, there are other software issues to be considered, first of all you have to engage an appropriate classification society or the group of societies to know what their requirements are so that they can accredit your yard, and you find that their number one requirement is for you to have a joint venture with the likes of Damen Samsung and so on, it takes a professional to understand this.

There are rumors that you have collected CVFF fund, is it true?
‎If I have collected it I would not be seating here, my company was actually one of the six supposed beneficiaries, this was against the five years contract we won with Total and that was why we applied, we met the requirements, Diamond Bank was our PLI, for two years we were going up and down and for two years, uptill now we have not heard anything. We got to a point where we were invited to Abuja for biometrics and SSS screening, I was at the House of Representatives when the Honorable Minister (of Transport) made a pronouncement, that was when I knew my company was on the list, he was telling the gentlemen of the House that we were there now, but this was two years ago. I have not collected the money.

How can the money be better managed?
I don't think it is about management, it is about mischief, if I have the might and the legal right, I will sue the government because that is my money; other ship owners are also saying the same thing. Let me tell you what happened with CVFF, NIMASA did their job, the banks did their job, they finished, according to the guidelines for disbursement, recommendations were made to the Honorable Minister, the Act gave the minister the right at that time to approve disbursement, it doesn't need to go beyond that point, but for reasons best known to him, he took the file to Mr. President, who probably promised to get back to him. He had good intentions, what he did was to send the file to the SSS to screen the beneficiaries and confirm that shareholders are who they are and they are existing. After the screening, this took us to Abuja for biometrics and that was the last we heard. So I think the question is at the presidency.

What can be done to make Cabotage more effective in Nigeria?
Sincerely you reporters have written many people view on this, the political will is very important‎, how do you expect Cabotage to work when the minister of transport, the permanent secretary, DG NIMASA and all the executive directors, none of them is a professional? This just answered the question, if you appoint a master mariner as the Director General of NIMASA, he is not going to start sending children to Philippines to go and get degrees, because he knows that is not what will make things right, but the people who are doing it now, that is all they know, it is a political issue.
How much have your company contributed to the Cabotage fund so far?
We started contributing to that money since 2008, today it probably around $US860,000 that we have put in as a company‎, You can quote me the statistics are there, and every month we normally write to NIMASA that this is the amount we have paid because the money is usually deducted at source by the IOC.

The allocations given to MAN Oron, why is it not translating into developments at the academy?
Starz is very close to MAN Oron, if you look at the statistics, most of the cadets come from there to us, and sincerely speaking I think the academy is trying, the support they need is in the area of teaching staff, attracting the qualified professionals to assist the teaching staff. But if you go to MAN Oron today, since Joshua Okpo took over, you will see what he is doing with their allocation, there is 24 hours power supply in Oron, there is a lot of infrastructural improvement, the last time I visited they took me to their simulation room and I was amazed, the last time I saw this kind of Simulator was in Cape Town, so they are doing their best. The SOAN has announced that we are putting together a 100 cadetship training beds among ourselves‎ to donate to NIMASA, but we are tying it to something that all the cadets that will go through that scheme must come through MAN Oron or other accredited institutions, this is a pilot scheme that we are putting together and other shipowners may want to emulate in order to help the situation.

As a respected member of NISA, why didn't you stay back to build the association instead of forming another?
I am a member of NISA, there is nothing like breaking away, SOAN is closing the gap that NISA has not been able to close, you can't have it all, SOAN is open to NISA people who wants to join.