The long awaited disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) will still take place before the end of this year, so says the director general, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr Temi Omatseye.Speaking at a stakeholders’ sensitization workshop on Cabotage compliance guidelines in Lagos last week, Omatseye assured that funds will be given out to indigenous ship owners before the end of this year, in accordance with the directive of the minister of transport, Alhaji Ibrahim Bio.
The workshop is a collaboration between NIMASA and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Shipping Position Weekly recalls that the minister had few months ago at the 2009 annual ministerial press briefing in Abuja hinted that the vessel financing fund was ready to be disbursed and that disbursement must take place before end of 2009.
But, Omatseye explained that before the CVFF is disbursed, there is need to educate the public on major issues involved in complying with the Cabotage law and most importantly to provide stakeholders, particularly operators with the opportunity to seek clarifications on any issue of concern and also to enlighten Nigerians on the huge economic opportunities within the domestic shipping trade.
Discussion about this post