NIMASA dillydallying over the amount accrue to CVFF - Jolapomo

Harboursandport.com: Lagos - For years now, there have been expectations from the Nigerian Shipowners on the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund, (CVFF), by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), but no ray of hope as Nigerian Shipowners are still finding it difficult to comparatively compete with their foreign counterparts in the Maritime business.    

Chief Isaac Jolapamo

In a chat with Harbours and Ports, former President of Indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria, (ISAN), that later metamorphosed into Nigeria Shipowners Association, (NISA), Chief Isaac Jolapamo, has accused NIMASA of not being truthful concerning the disbursement of the CVFF fund by not disclosing the actual amount currently saved in the CVFF account.

DG NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside

He stated: “NIMASA have to start by telling us how much has been accrued to CVFF fund account because every day they say is $17 million, that money that they have been telling us for the past 10 years or so, will this money will be accrued every day, so we will start by knowing how much has been accrued and by my own calculation it should be up to $1trillion, my own question is; where is the money? Which bank and account are they into? Let us even know whether the money is even there or it has filtered away”

Jolapomo, who is also the former CEO of the now-defunct Molap Shipping Company, equally lamented that due to lack of financial capacity Nigerian shipowners will continue to lag behind in the acquisition of modern vessels in order to bring cargoes from abroad into Nigeria.

“If you are talking about the international going vessels that bring cargos direct from overseas to Nigeria, Nigerians are not into it because of lack of financial capacity, to acquire such vessels at times, takes $30 million, $60 million, and recently the Bank of Industry, BOI pledged to loan $100 million. $100 million cannot acquire a good vessel, so for NIMASA to actualize what they are saying in building capacity, they must financially equip the indigenous shipowners to create employment opportunities for the seafarers”    

On the issue of floating dockyard, Jolapomo also called on NIMASA to allow private individuals to invest in the floating dockyard in order to increase the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the country.