CVFF disbursement: Beware of portfolio shipowners, NAMM warns

The Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) has warned the Federal Government to be wary of portfolio indigenous shipowners as plans continue to unfold over the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).

This is even as the NAMM president asked that the CVFF should be disbursed to address gaps noticed in the nation’s maritime industry.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Lagos, President of NAMM, Captain Tajudeen Alao, said that some of the shipowners are just waiting to collect the funds for other purposes than capacity development purposes.

Captain Alao said, “The CVFF should be disbursed to address gaps noticed in our maritime industry. The fund should not be disbursed based on those that contributed into the fund because that will amount to compensation for the contributors.

“For instance, over 80 percent of contribution that accrued into the CVFF came in through tanker operations. If we use that criteria to disburse and end up disbursing the funds to tanker operators, if they buy more tankers, will that address the issue of unemployment in Nigeria?

“Some people just want to take that money for sharing sake. Some of the indigenous shipowners who are in the forefront of the CVFF disbursement are in their 80’s and 70’s. Can we say this set of shipowners are as dynamic as when they were in their 40’s?

“How can indigenous shipowners who are 80 years old be clamouring for CVFF disbursement? When are they going to repay the fund? We need to be very careful with the way we disburse the CVFF fund.

“The CVFF should not be disbursed as a form of compensation for some indigenous shipowners because they have contributed so much into the fund. The CVFF should be disbursed judiciously to address issues of capacity in our maritime space.

“Technical people must be involved in the CVFF disbursement to ensure that the type of ships that we need are purchased, and that the kind of businesses that will fund the repayment of the loans are in operation.

“We should not forget that in the past, people collected the same kind of loans and couldn’t account for the ships that were bought. Many of the indigenous shipowners who collected loans in the past failed to pay back their loans. We shouldn’t forget that.

“We have an inland waterway that needs attention. The fund can be given to barge operators to enhance capacity because the government has cargoes that need to be moved along our inland waterways route. With Lekki Port coming up, the need for a strong barging sub-sector will arise because we need to decongest our roads.”

On types of ships that need to be purchased, the NAMM President explained that, “As we speak, we don’t have Bulk Carriers in this country. We don’t have Floating Cranes to assist in wreck removal and salvage operations. We need crude carriers and container carriers to assist us in the area of export.

“It is important that the fund is used to purchase the assets that we need now to keep the maritime industry at par with what is obtainable in other climes,” Captain Ajao added.