Again, Buhari directs disbursement of Cabotage fund to shipowners
By Fredrick Wright
Apparently irked by the delay, President Mohammadu Buhari has again directed the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to operators, after about 18 years of contribution.
The president had earlier approved the disbursement in 2019, but the process of ensuring transparency has dragged for about two years.
The president, in his recent approval directed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) to ensure that the fund is disbursed to qualified indigenous maritime operators.
The presidency on it’s Twitter page said: “President @MBuhari has approved the disbursement by @nimasaofficial of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to qualified indigenous maritime operators in line with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy and the CVFF Guidelines 2006.
“The Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CUFF) is a fund set up by the provisions of section 42(1)-(2) of Cabotage Act 2003 to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition capacity by providing financial assistance to Nigerian operators in domestic coastal shipping,”
Earlier in 2019, the minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had said that Mr President, had approved the disbursement of the long awaited Cabbotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF). The fund was estimated at $200 million as at then.
He said the process of the disbursement would begin immediately. Since then, indigenous ship owners have been longing to benefit from the fund.
The accumulated fund represents a two per cent contribution by indigenous ship owners on every contract done in the nation’s maritime sector.
To begin the disbursement, NIMASA has called for Expression of Interest (EoI) from Banks to act as primary lending institutions (PLI) for the disbursement of the CVFF.
