NIMASA Gives Local Shipowners Condition For $350m Cabotage Fund Disbursement

As the indigenous shipowners await the disbursement of $350million, N16billion Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund (CVFF), the  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has given three conditions for the disbursement of the fund.

During the meeting of the Nigerian Shipowners’ Association (NISA), in Lagos, yesterday, the committee set up by the association to engage with the federal ministry of Transportation and NIMASA, said the director general of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, asked that, NISA and its counterpart association, Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), must unite and collapse into one indigenous association before the CVFF could be disbursed to them.

The committee, headed by Dr. Edward Sowho, explained that, during the committee meeting with NIMASA DG, he urged them not to fault the amount so far accrued into the CVFF account.

Dr. Sowho said: “the NIMASA DG asked that before the CVFF will be disbursed, the division among indigenous shipowners must end. That NISA and SOAN must collapse into one body of indigenous shipowners group.

“Secondly, the NIMASA DG asked that NISA must change the name of it’s CVFF Committee because the Federal Ministry of Transportation is about to set-up a committee with that name. The NIMASA DG told us that the Federal Ministry of Transportation cannot have a Committee named CVFF Committee while NISA also has a committee named CVFF Committee.

“The NIMASA DG asked us to accept the disbursement of the amount in the CVFF. The NIMASA DG said that NISA cannot fault the amount in the CVFF and expect it to be disbursed.”

Also, during the meeting, the indigenous shipowners deliberated on whether it is time to have elections into national executives of the group.

However, the chairman, Board of Trustees, NISA, Chief Isaac Jolapamo, advocated for elections into national offices of the group in two weeks.

At the end, the group selected includes: Captain Adewale Ishola; Captain Solomon Aluko; Gbolahan Adu and Mr. Bob Manuel as members of the Electoral Committee, and mandated the committee to come up with a timeline and date for elections into national offices of the association.