The Managing Director/CEO of Bricks Musten Mattoni, a maritime firm operating in Nigeria offshore sub-sector, Mr Emmanuel Maiguwa, has said that if the Federal Government thinks that the Cabotage Act needs to be amended before disbursement of the $700 million Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), then the ship owners who has been contributing to the fund through acquisition of ships, should have a say before the amendment is carried out.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, Emmanuel Maiguwa, who is also the President of the Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria (MASPAN), said if the Act is amended without input from indigenous ship owners, they may choose to boycott the fund if the provisions are not beneficial to them.
Maiguwa said, “Currently, I know that the ship owners association is in court over the CVFF fund, yet the government is amending the Act. This clearly tells you that the two parties are not working together concerning the CVFF fund disbursement.
“At the end of the day, the government should remember that even when they make this disbursement available, the ship owner has to declare intention to access this loan and pay back.
“If the government carries out a process of amendment without the input of the stakeholders who will want to access the loan, even when government asks ship owners to come and access the loan, as long as the provision is not conducive or beneficial to the ship owners, they will abandon the fund and go to the local content fund or go to other foreign investment. Then government will be stuck with that money because nobody will access it.
“It is time the government listens to the ship owners. Is the problem acquiring ships or getting charter for the vessels? What if the government makes available the fund and the ship owners are not interested in acquiring vessels because if they acquire vessels, they won’t have any trade to engage such vessels?
“The issue here is NIMASA should find a way to get the ship owners involved before they go ahead to amend. Amendment could come in different ways. It is not just ship acquisition that is the problem of building indigenous tonnage, there is also the management aspect. If you acquire a vessel and you cannot manage it, it will go down. You will sell it off.
“It is important that the ship owners and the government get together to ensure the industry flourishes. Government should remember that the CVFF is a loan. You can make provision for a loan and people will refuse to access it because the conditions attached are not convenient for them.
“If you are making a provision of loan for me, I think it is important you hear my concerns. It is over 10 years since the CVFF was established, no ship owner has received a dime from that fund.”
The CVFF was established by the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003 for the purpose of developing indigenous ship acquisition capacity and to provide financial assistance to indigenous/domestic coastal shipping operators.
The fund is generated from a surcharge of two percent of the contract sum performed by vessels engaged in coastal trade, monies generated from tariffs, fines and fees for licenses and waivers, a sum periodically approved by the National Assembly and interests that accrue from loans granted from the fund.
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