Breaking CVFF Disbursement Jinx

The creation of the Marine and Blue Economy is no doubt a prayer answered as far as many industry stakeholders are concerned. Over the years, prominent industry stakeholders had called for a separate industry for the maritime industry. It was perhaps based on this clamour that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was advised to create the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry. With this measure, the Ministry has been challenged to rise to the obligation of achieving the objectives of the federal government in this regard. Basically, the Ministry is to harness the potentials of the sector for greater development. When this is done, the sector, as industry experts argue, will be smoking with huge revenue generation as well as job creation. As experts predict, the creation of the Marine and Blue Economy is expected to raise the contributions of the sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is what happens in other countries where marine resources have been exploited to the fullest.
As part of improving on the fortunes of the Blue Economy, industry experts are of the view that the federal government needs to act effectively on the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) . It would be recalled that the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the disbursement before leaving office. It would be recalled that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as the apex maritime agency had made tremendous progress to carry out this assignment before the end of the last administration. But this had been slowed down in the past months. At the last point, NIMASA had met with relevant banks, including Union Bank, Jaiz Bank, Zenith Bank, Polaris Bank and United Bank of Africa (UBA) as part of the efforts to disburse the CVFF. However, what has become of the situation is not clear. Sources said the process was halted, apparently to be clear about the body language of the government on the planned disbursement. Another source said the Ministry may be considering applying the fund which is estimated to be about $200m to be part of the national carrier initiative. This is unclear.
Shipping Day wishes to call on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to intervene on this matter. The national carrier arrangement should stand on its own under a synergy between the government and private investors in the industry. The President needs to rise to the task of giving his approval to the disbursement of the fund. This is in consideration of the obvious positive impact the disbursement to indigenous Nigerian companies involved in shipping would bring to the industry and the national economy. President Tinubu will be the darling of the indigenous shipping sector if he makes this decision. The result is that it will further boost indigenous shipping and a plus to the marine and blue economy ministry initiative. Above all, such disbursement will be a game changer under the current scenario in which the shipping sector is dominated by foreigners.

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