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Worried by non-capturing of the maritime sector in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), experts in the nation’s shipping business have called on the Federal Government to urgently disburse the millions of dollars accumulated in the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) for the development of the maritime sector.
According to them, the country can only harness her huge maritime potential, if government administers the CVFF funds for ship acquisition in order to address issues around shipping development in Nigeria.
Frank Ojadi, a university don, said at the dinner/ annual Nigerian Maritime Award (ANMA) organised by the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) held in Lagos recently, that the Nigerian maritime sector is weak and may not be able to compete favourably with its contemporaries around the world.
“It’s difficult to pin down what the Nigerian Maritime industry contributes to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and this is because 80 to 90 percent of vessels that come into the country are foreign vessels,” Ojadi a lecturer at the Lagos Business School (LBS) said.
Continuing, he said: “The foreign vessels owners’ repatriate the profit accrued from the shipping business in Nigeria to their various countries thereby making it difficult for Nigeria to retain the money in the economy.
He stated further that the Maritime University Okerenkoko should be pursued and actualised for training and building of capacity in the maritime industry. “Training vessels should be provided for the training of seafarers.
In his view, Greg Ogbeifun, president of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), who estimated that about $2 billion was believed to have accumulated in CVFF since 2004, added that the disbursement of the fund will enable the country to tap into the capacity of shipping to grow the GDP.
He said that proper management of the maritime industry would assist the Federal Government to encourage diversification from oil to non-oil revenue.
Ogbeifun pointed that the essence of CVFF, which was generated from two percent freight earnings of ship owners engaged in coastal shipping services, was to enable local ship owners have access to funds at a single digit interest rate.
Ogbeifun said that there is need for acquisition of more tankers and dry cargo vessels through the CVFF to create more jobs for youths and enable indigenous shipping operators to charter vessels in Nigeria rather than from London.
“We ship owners must ensure that we are eligible to access the fund. We need to look at our processes and system to ensure they meet the requirements. Nigerian ship owners must focus on owning ships now,’’ Ogbeifun said.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
