The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NISA

  • Cabotage fund hits N36b as NISA clears NIMASA

    Cabotage fund hits N36b as NISA clears NIMASA

    The Nigerian Ship Owners Association (NISA) has absolved the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) of being responsible for inability to access to Cabotage Fund by ship owners. The fund as at end of September stood at N36 billion.

    The President of NISA, Capt. Dada Labinjo told The Nation that the fund is currently N36 billion, but  noted that contrary to reports that NIMASA has been responsible for not allowing ship owners to access the fund as provided in the Cabotage Act, the agency is only a custodian of the fund while directive for its disbursement as loans to ship owners resides with the Federal Government.

    There have been reports about ship owners that suffer dearth of funds to maintain their vessels but were unable to access the fund, which they are statutorily entitled to .

    The Cabotage law, which is the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, was passed into law in 2003 and among the provisions in the Act is the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which is pooled from the two per cent deductions from all contracts awarded under the Cabotage regime. The essence of the Fund is to empower indigenous ship owners to be active in maritime sector by acquiring ships that have adequate tonnage to participate in coastal and inland trade and perhaps, with time, take over from foreigners currently dominate the coastal and deep sea shipping activities.

    However, 11 years after the law was passed the impact of the CVFF has not been felt either in terms of loans to ship owners or by increasing dominance of the coastal shipping by indigenous ship owners, stakeholders said.

    Also Labinjo debunked reports that 80 per cent of ships owned by indigenous players are substandard. He said: “I will never agree with that position. I don’t agree with it not because I’m saying that our ships are perfect. Substandard is not a good comment. Every ship is owned by the nation where it is registered. Every ship is owned by the flag it bears, which is the country. That is why they say flag your ship.

    “Yes I’m the beneficial owner of the ship but it is the country that owns it because in times of crisis, the country will convert it like it happened during the Falkland crisis, when Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship) was converted for military use. So that is why countries like to have their own  ships in their own register because in times of emergency and crisis you cannot leave Nigerian ships to call Cameroonian ships to come and help you, they will not answer you. But you can commandeer that of Captain Labinjo or that of any Nigerian.

    “That is the reason the country owns the ships. I’m not saying our ships are the best in the world. I’ve been to India, Indonesia and Singapore, among other countries and I have seen the way things are there. What I know is that we have a bad habit in Nigeria and that is maintenance issue. No doubt about it, but I’m assuring you and everybody that as the President of NISA, we will overcome that challenge.

  • Ship owners owe banks $3b

    • Seek removal of waiver clause

    Indigenous shipping firms are owing  Banks a whopping $3billion, the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA) has said.

    The group said the inclusion of the waivers clause in the Cabotage Act has added to their problems as it has boxed them into a disadvantaged corner. They, therefore, urged the Federal Government to expunge the clause from the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act (Cabotage Act of 2013).

    The group said the removal of the waiver clause would improve the business of indigenous shipowners.

    Its Chairman, Chief Isaac Jolapamo, told The Nation that about 50 per cent of indigenous shipping firms have been thrown out of business due to poor implementation of the Cabotage Law.

    He said NISA made the same appeal at the stakeholders’ meeting they held with the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar on policy guidelines for the granting of ministerial waivers under the Cabotage Law.

    “The removal will help to address the plight of indigenous ship owners whose businesses have been damaged,” Jolapamo said, adding that it was sad that indigenous ship owners were not doing well in spite of the fact that they started maritime business in the country.

    Its Secretary, Capt. Niyi Labinjo, also called for the removal of the waiver clause, arguing that their members were owing banks several billions of naira. The waiver clause, according to Labinjo, has been made more important by the government at the detriment of implementation of the Cabotage Law itself.

    “I am alarmed at the kind of vessels that are granted waiver in Nigeria. Instead of giving waivers to specialised vessels in consonance with the dreams of the initiators of the Act, we end up giving waivers to anchor handling and tankers, which the Act did not envisage  for waiver.

    “In other climes, they do not leave the administration of waiver to be handled by busy government officials, rather an all-inclusive exercise where applications were received by the agency concerned and forwarded to the stakeholders who do the needful and make recommendations to the implementing agency, which now carry out the recommended action,” Labinjo said.

  • Shipowners association to hold election

    The Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association (NISA) will hold its general election on October 9, this year.

    Al the offices are open to contest after the pioneer Chairman of the group, Chief Isaac Jolapamo, pleaded with the members to allow him to step down, after a decade of leadership.

    NISA General Secretary Capt. Niyi Labinjo, sources said, has declared his intention to run for the office of the chairman.

    Captain Labinjo said: “I am ready for the NISA battle.”

    He, however, promised to build on the gains inherited from Jolapamo led administration.

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), it was learnt, would conduct the election.

    Chief Jolapamo, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho and Capt. Labinjo conceived the idea of an association that would represent the interests of Nigerian shipowners, and the maritime industry when the Cabotage Law was established in 2003.

  • Shipowners kick over foreign domination of oil trade

    Shipowners kick over foreign domination of oil trade

    Can indigenous shipowners match their foreign counterparts in the capital intensive crude oil lifting business? Yes, says the Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), which has launched a campaign to be involved in the business.

    The association says its involvement in the trade would be in the national interest.

    Its participation would reduce youth unemployment, generate revenue and ensure security, its General Secretary, Captain Niyi Labinjo, told The Nation.

    Labinjo said it was more profitable for a Nigerian ship to lift crude as the country was losing using foreign vessels.

    “We will gain about N968 million a day if we use our own indigenous ships to lift crude oil. This is because Nigeria carries about 2.5 million barrels of crude a day at the rate of $2.50 per barrel,” he said, adding that the huge sum would have accrued to Nigeria and created employment for at least 5,000 professionals in the sector. The advantage is that indigenous ships will get their water, food, tug boats, chandelling, engineers and rags from Nigeriam he noted.

    Labinjo said there were many qualified Nigerians in these fields but they have no jobs, stating that using foreign vessels was not in the best interest of the nation because when the dependent country has crisis, Nigeria may have challenges lifting its crude.

    The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, said in Abuja last month that indigenous shipowners lift about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s crude. She said over 60 per cent of the 2014 /2015 annual term contracts for the lifting of Nigeria’s crude have been awarded to local firms.

    She said  as at the last count, indigenous investments in the sector have created over 40, 000 jobs across the hydrocarbon value chain.

    Meanwhile, the Shippers Association, Lagos State has attributed the drop in the revenue collected by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to inconsistency in government policies.