‘CVFF don’t belong to ship owners’, Ochei

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) weekend, clarified that the controversial Cabotage Vessels Financing Funds (CVFF), does not belong to Nigerian ship owners but to the federal government.

The bombshell was dropped by the Executive Director of Cabotage Services, NIMASA, Mr. Victor Ochei, during a media briefing alongside Director General NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, and the public and external relations managers of the agency.

Ochei also said the agency does not have the actual figure of how much has accrued to the Fund, noting that “payments are regularly been made, and it is difficult to say how much precisely has accrued so far.”

Ship owners believe that the Fund has suffered serial abuse and mismanagement, and fear that it has been misappropriated and partly by successive government, including President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

It will be recalled that the CVFF was a major campaign item the All Progress Congress (APC) party currently in government threw up as smear campaign against the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government in 2014 through 2015. The then Presidential Campaign Media Director, and current Media Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Garba  Shehu was vociferous in his allegations against the PDP using NIMASA as its ATM machine.

The ED Cabotage Services explained that the FUND has both naira and dollar components, saying that upon his appointment last year, there was N32 billion in the local component account, and $209million in the dollar account.

According to him, “The CVFF has two components: the Dollar component and the Naira component. When I called for the file in March last year, there was N32 billion as naira component in the account while there was $209 million as Dollar component in the account.”

This is even as he reassured that President Mohammadu Buhari has approved the disbursement of $200million from the unverified accruals to the CVFF account. He further explained that NIMASA has no control over the funds as its disbursement rests squarely with the Ministry of Transportation.

Speaking further on the issue, he said: “The fund is the 2 percent surcharge which belongs to the Federal government. It doesn’t belong to ship owners.

“From when the Treasury Single Account (TSA) was introduced, all funds by whichever name called have moved into the TSA. By that national arrangement, NIMASA is not even in charge of the CVFF, this is the reality which maritime stakeholders have to come to terms with.”

However, the DG NIMASA tapered the issue when he explained that there is a figure to the actual accruals, but declined to disclose the amount that has accrued to the Fund.  Like his ED, he expressed hope that the Fund will be disbursed shortly, after ongoing review of the instruments has been concluded, a review he said was sequel to defects detected in the CVFF Act.

According to him, about 11 applicants have so far been shortlisted among the intending applicants which have been transmitted to the Minister of Transportation for final approval. He appealed to ship owners and stakeholders to be a little more patient, having waited for seventeen long years.

He said, “For 17 years, we did not disburse the funds, for 17 years, we did not test the strength and weaknesses of the Act to know what amendments to make that would aid easy disbursement”

Jamoh further explained that in spite of the review of the Act by the National Assembly, the first tranche of the disbursement will be carried out, to enable the Ministry and NIMASA and other stakeholders identify the grey areas necessary for review to strengthen future disbursements.