Editorial: Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and CVFF Disbursement
PRESIDENT TINUBU
It is exactly one year since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the creation of Marine and Blue Economy. It is a new Ministry that has pleased many industry stakeholders who had over the years championed the move. The Ministry is headed by
Hon. Minister Gboyega Adetola. The creation of the new Ministry came with a lot of expectations following the objectives of the government. It is a new Ministry which experts see as capable of engineering developments in all sectors of the marine and blue economy.
With the good intention of the government, industry stakeholders had also called on the Tinubu’s administration to break the jinx experienced over the decades in disbursing the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). As at the time the administration came into office, a lot of progress had been made in the efforts to disburse the fund which is put at $350m. In fact, the former President Muhammed Buhar had given his approval and the apex maritime agency, the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was working on this, having held meetings with the . relevant banks, including Union Bank, Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank and United Bank of Africa (UBA) as part of the efforts to disburse the CVFF. However, it is now close to two years and it would appear that the moves for the disbursement may be jettisoned. And this is going by the body language of the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola.
This development is unhealthy considering the benefits of the disbursement of the fund to the national economy. At a recent media parley with maritime journalists, Mobereola disclosed that the agency is looking at ways of fine-tuning the disbursement. He told newsmen, “We are also exploring other avenues to ensure that this CVFF is not just CVFF but enlarged in such a way that we can even leverage on it”.
Before Moberoela’s position, the former Director General of NIMASA, Barr Temisan Omatseye, during a stakeholders’ engagement had pointed out an issue of concern. According to Omatseye, “By the CVFF, NIMASA is doing the risk assessment but the disbursing does not allow an outsider to do the risk assessment, as it negates the law that binds the funding.” At the media parley, the NIMASA had also pointed out that the problem the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund (SASBF) faced in the past when beneficiaries could not repay their loans. He had described the suspended SASBF as a failure, an indication of possible reluctance by the agency leadership to disburse the CVFF. He was quickly reminded that only some of the beneficiaries did not repay the loan they took as some actually acquired trading vessels from where they repaid their loans.
We therefore urge the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Adetola, to rise and address issues being raised between NIMASA and the selected primary lending institutions expected to carry out the disbursement
We also call on the management of NIMASA to rise and be truly committed to the disbursement of the fund as he promised beyond any further rhetorics. There should be strong political will on the part of the government. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy should rise up to the challenges and take the matter up with the President so that the disbursement of the fund is not further delayed. The President needs to authenticate the approval for the disbursement because of the immense benefits. First, it will boost Nigeria’s participation in international shipping in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation. At an event in May this year, maritime stakeholders had pointed out that the nation is losing billions of dollars annually as a result of failure to disburse CVFF. With the task of training Nigerian cadets fresh in maritime institutions, the country cannot continue to depend on foreign vessels for sea time experience as few indigenous vessels are available for this exercise. The present government should see the disbursement as very crucial as part of the realization of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as it affects the maritime sector.
Hon. Minister Gboyega Adetola. The creation of the new Ministry came with a lot of expectations following the objectives of the government. It is a new Ministry which experts see as capable of engineering developments in all sectors of the marine and blue economy.
With the good intention of the government, industry stakeholders had also called on the Tinubu’s administration to break the jinx experienced over the decades in disbursing the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). As at the time the administration came into office, a lot of progress had been made in the efforts to disburse the fund which is put at $350m. In fact, the former President Muhammed Buhar had given his approval and the apex maritime agency, the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was working on this, having held meetings with the . relevant banks, including Union Bank, Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank and United Bank of Africa (UBA) as part of the efforts to disburse the CVFF. However, it is now close to two years and it would appear that the moves for the disbursement may be jettisoned. And this is going by the body language of the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola.
This development is unhealthy considering the benefits of the disbursement of the fund to the national economy. At a recent media parley with maritime journalists, Mobereola disclosed that the agency is looking at ways of fine-tuning the disbursement. He told newsmen, “We are also exploring other avenues to ensure that this CVFF is not just CVFF but enlarged in such a way that we can even leverage on it”.
Before Moberoela’s position, the former Director General of NIMASA, Barr Temisan Omatseye, during a stakeholders’ engagement had pointed out an issue of concern. According to Omatseye, “By the CVFF, NIMASA is doing the risk assessment but the disbursing does not allow an outsider to do the risk assessment, as it negates the law that binds the funding.” At the media parley, the NIMASA had also pointed out that the problem the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund (SASBF) faced in the past when beneficiaries could not repay their loans. He had described the suspended SASBF as a failure, an indication of possible reluctance by the agency leadership to disburse the CVFF. He was quickly reminded that only some of the beneficiaries did not repay the loan they took as some actually acquired trading vessels from where they repaid their loans.
We therefore urge the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Adetola, to rise and address issues being raised between NIMASA and the selected primary lending institutions expected to carry out the disbursement
We also call on the management of NIMASA to rise and be truly committed to the disbursement of the fund as he promised beyond any further rhetorics. There should be strong political will on the part of the government. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy should rise up to the challenges and take the matter up with the President so that the disbursement of the fund is not further delayed. The President needs to authenticate the approval for the disbursement because of the immense benefits. First, it will boost Nigeria’s participation in international shipping in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation. At an event in May this year, maritime stakeholders had pointed out that the nation is losing billions of dollars annually as a result of failure to disburse CVFF. With the task of training Nigerian cadets fresh in maritime institutions, the country cannot continue to depend on foreign vessels for sea time experience as few indigenous vessels are available for this exercise. The present government should see the disbursement as very crucial as part of the realization of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as it affects the maritime sector.