NIMASA makes N136b from Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund

By Oluwakemi Dauda

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said the agency raked in N136 billion from the payment of the 2 per cent surcharge into the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).

The Coastal and Inland Shipping Cabotage Act, 2003, requires every shipping line trading within the nation’s territorial waters to pay 2 per cent of the value of every contract awarded to it into the CVFF account.

This is to enable indigenous shipping operators acquire modern vessels to generate employment, boost international trade and generate revenue.

NIMASA also threatened to sanction international oil companies (IOCs) operating on the nation’s territorial waters yet frustrating Federal Government’s efforts to develop indigenous shipping business to international standard.

The agency’s Director General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, stated this at the weekend on the sidelines of the Day of the Seafarers celebration in Lagos.

Jamoh urged the international community to cancel the war risk insurance premium placed on cargoes coming to the country, based on the recent efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to address the security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea through the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also known as the Deep Blue Project.

NIMASA, he said, is fully out to apprehend and sanction all defaulters that are not following the agency’s guidelines on shipping business in Nigeria.

Many of the IOCs, it was learnt, have defaulted in the payment of the 2 per cent surcharge into the CVFF, as required by law.

The NIMASA chief directed companies that have not paid the 2 per cent fund to do so in order to avoid sanction.

The CVFF account, findings revealed, comprises two components: the naira and the dollar accounts.

As at March, 2020, both accounts had N136.5 billion: the naira account had N32 billion, while the dollar account stood at $209 million.

The amount, according to NIMASA’s Executive Director in charge of Cabotage Services, Mr. Victor Ochei, is domiciled in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Federal Government.

The money, he said, belongs to the Federal Government and not the indigenous operators.

He added that the government only wanted to use the money to develop local shipping company to international standard.