Otunba Sola Adewumi (NISA President)
I think it is better, that question is directed to the people that are there. Probably they do not have the political will to disburse the fund, because I don’t know what to say. When it comes to the disbursement, they are in a better position to tell us why it has been delayed. It is not as if they have come up with a procedure and people are not meeting up with their expectations.
The last administration said they have problems with the banks that they were not able to agree on the interest rate they really wanted them to implement. But we cannot confirm whether it is true or not, because the banks are not talking to ship owners. They are only talking to the ministry.
Engr. Matthew Alalade (Former President, Merchant Navy)
The reasons why the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund is yet to be disbursed is best known to all successive governments. The ship owners are in one accessible entity now. The government put a lot of bottle necks, making it not to be granted to the contributors. I believe the current administration will genuinely release the CVFF to dis-abuse Cabotage waivers and ensure job creations to Nigerians.
Gbolahan Adu (NISA Publicity Secretary)
There are a lot of factors that are responsible for the protracted disbursement of the CVFF. The government policies to get the fund is quite stringent with the banks. There are also politics behind it which has affected the disbursement till date. Until when the real stakeholders which are the ship owners are carried along and agree with funds and modalities of the disbursement.
Captain Tajudeen Alao (National
The Act stipulates who administers and approves the disbursement. The guidelines for the process of disbursement have been fine-tuned many times, but the stakeholders could not meet the requirements that is contributory equity and collateral. A new ship is capital intensive, if we want to do shipping, we need to form a proper shipping company with ISM code compliance, look for cargo and charter appropriate ship. When the business stabilises, get loan to order an appropriate tonnage ship. The fund should be accessed and grow the industry
Dr Edward Sohwo (NISA CVFF Committee Chairman)
The main problem for a protracted non-disbursement of the CVFF has been interest rates from the banks. That is really the main problem. Then, of course there was a change in government which we have been able to resolve that. We have been able to make them realize the importance and the benefits of Nigerians owning vessels. We have been only behind the scenes to explain to them the benefits of Nigerians owning vessels. So, what we do is to continue our engagement with them. We may intensify the engagement but we will also identify individuals that are mitigating the gap and address those issues. With further engagement, we have absolute confidence in them that the funds will be disbursed.
Captain Williams Ogunsakin (Master Mariner and South West Director, MESAN)
We cannot say the government is not sincere in the disbursement of the CVFF, but I think they can do better than what they are doing now. That money is enough for the Nigerian government to launch NNSL again. I believe the lack of unity amongst ship owners also contributed to the fact that the fund is yet to be disbursed to them. The requirements to access the fund are also difficult for ship owners to meet. The so called ship owners are not the ship owners we use to know. They have lost their business to expatriates. So where do you want the ship owners to see money to meet up with the equity. It is better they merge and form a corporation before the can realise that equity. Then there can be a policy to manage it. The ISS code will take care of that.
Captain Adetayo Saliu (Chairman, Merchant Navy Shipping Zonal Council)
The government is the custodian of the CVFF but the money does not belong to them. I think the government wants to disburse this fund, but the ship owners should bring themselves together and meet the requirements for accessing the fund. I believe the new administration will disburse the fund, but should be disbursed judiciously and not with any form of favoritism to government allies. They should create a level playground for everyone to access the fund. When the money is disbursed, it should be used judiciously to buy ships so that the seafarers and everyone will also benefit from it.
Captain Thomas Kemewerigha
I have always said the disbursement of CVFF is a complete fraud. Call it any condition, that money cannot come out anywhere. That is the highest fraud, there is no money anywhere. They are just buying the minds of people to hand over the government to another regime, but they will be brought to book when the time comes. Nothing is happening, what are the conditions? When someone is not willing to give you something why won’t he give conditions? They know the ship owners cannot meet the conditions. I would advise the government to channel that money to buy training vessels because at the end of the day, the fund will be disbursed to government allies and an average ship owners
