Why CVFF should be disbursed at single digit rate — ASA

THE President of African Shipowners Association (ASA), Captain Ladi Olubowale, has stated that the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund (CVFF) to Nigerian shipowners at a single digit interest rate will create abundant growth opportunities, boost capacity building, local content development and develop Nigeria as a maritime nation in Africa.

Olubowale, who is also the Managing Director of Seamate Maritime Integrated Services Limited, described the involvement of Nigerian banks in the disbursement by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as a perfect strategy that will bring about transparency and elimination of dubious borrowers.

The ASA President stated this in Lagos while commending the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, over the directive to NIMASA to begin the CVFF disbursement and which NIMASA promised to start in August 2025.

Olubowale maintained that the CVFF disbursement directive also shows that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is working towards building the nation, thus complementing the efforts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the development of the downstream and upstream sectors of the nation’s petroleum industry.

According to him, majority of banks in Nigeria do not have specific desks for maritime but rather put maritime under energy desks, stressing that with their involvement in the CVFF disbursement, this lapse will be corrected and desks will be created for maritime industry. 

While speaking on the preparations of ASA for the CVFF disbursement, Captain Ladi Olubowale said ASA Africa and ASA Nigeria are made up of companies that own and operate ships that trade not only in Nigeria but in intra Africa, pointing out that all ASA Nigeria members are licensed by NIMASA and their vessels are adequately certified by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations and Classification society standards. 

He added that the association has a database of all its members who trade and where the cargos are having carried out extensive studies and advocacies to identify where they are.

“ASA is all over Africa; we are different. It is for companies that have ships that are fit for purposes. We own ships that trade intra Africa and international oceans. It is not just about having ships but cargo, and we know where the cargoes – dry or wet – are. We have database of our members who trade and our ships are certified by IMO. We are fully prepared for the CVFF,” said Captain Olubowale. 

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For Seamate Maritime Integrated Services Limited, he said the CVFF disbursement is a dream come true having explored various banks for funding but without a success because the banks do not know the trade.

According to him, many shipping companies have failed in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa because the shipowners want to manage the business but this is not a case at Seamate. 

He informed that Seamate has signed a lot of ship management agreements with many technical companies to manage all its fleet and this, he said with emphasis, would definitely create job opportunities for master mariners, ship surveyors, crew and many others.