Stakeholders demand cabotage fund audit – Daily Trust

Indigenous shipowners have referred to as for an unbiased forensic audit of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) following conflicting accounts by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and its former Director-General, Temisan Omatseye, over the fund’s administration, foreign money denomination and monetary standing.

The shipowners need NIMASA’s accounts audited from 2004 up to now to determine the fund’s precise worth, amassed contributions, withdrawals and funding returns.

The demand adopted Omatseye’s declare that he left N52bn in mounted deposits, comprising the CVFF and Maritime Fund, when he exited workplace in December 2010.

Omatseye, who headed NIMASA between July 2009 and December 2010, mentioned the conversion of dollar-denominated funds into naira was carried out on the directive of the Accountant-General of the Federation to maximise curiosity earnings.

He defined that whereas greenback deposits attracted rates of interest of between one and two per cent, naira deposits provided returns of greater than 15 per cent on the time.

According to him, the choice to transform the funds was knowledgeable by the necessity to safe higher returns reasonably than enable the cash to stay in low-interest overseas foreign money deposits.

However, NIMASA has rejected the declare, insisting that the greenback element of the CVFF was by no means transformed into naira.

In a press release signed by its Director-General, Dr Dayo Mobereola, the company mentioned greenback contributions remained domiciled in {dollars} with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), whereas naira contributions have been retained in native foreign money.

The conflicting accounts have raised recent questions concerning the administration of the fund, notably the foreign money by which contributions have been held, the curiosity accrued through the years and the extent to which successive administrations accounted for the assets.

Reacting to the dispute, former President of the National Association of Master Mariners, Capt. Tajudeen Alao, referred to as for a complete audit of NIMASA’s accounts from 2004 up to now to resolve the controversy.

Alao mentioned solely an unbiased examination of the company’s monetary information would set up the precise place of the fund and reconcile the conflicting claims by previous and current administration.

He additionally expressed concern over the extended failure to disburse the CVFF, saying the delay had undermined its unique objective and contributed to the difficulties confronting indigenous transport operators.

According to him, many native operators have been unable to maintain their companies due to the excessive price of buying vessels and the problem of accessing long-term financing.

He argued that the continued absence of an accessible financing scheme had weakened indigenous participation within the transport business, regardless of the nation’s maritime commerce potential.

Alao, nonetheless, cautioned that entry to the fund must be tied to the capability of potential beneficiaries to handle vessels and safe cargo.

He urged the federal government to think about cargo ensures and ship-management capability as key eligibility necessities to make sure that loans obtained from the fund have been correctly utilised and repaid.

Beyond the CVFF controversy, Omatseye additionally criticised the capability of Nigerian industrial banks to finance large-scale transport investments, arguing that their short-term lending fashions have been unsuitable for the capital-intensive nature of the business.

He mentioned the acquisition of subtle vessels, notably liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) tankers, required substantial capital and lengthy compensation intervals that native banks have been largely unable to accommodate.

“There is money available for this, and I keep telling people that we can never be competitive in our shipping industry because of what? Sorry, bankers may not like this. The banks in Nigeria do not have the capacity to finance shipping. One LNG tanker alone is about $250m. Repayment cannot be less than 15 years. I’m sorry to say this again, our banks are just traders looking for short-term loans,” he acknowledged.

Similarly, President of the Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), Alhaji Adewumi, insisted that the CVFF ought to stay denominated in {dollars}, arguing that the fund’s pointers didn’t present for conversion into naira.

He famous that shipowners continued to make funds in {dollars} and questioned why their contributions must be transformed into the native foreign money.

Adewumi urged NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to make clear Omatseye’s claims, noting that the previous director-general had beforehand occupied the company’s high place.

He maintained that if the authorities meant to retain the fund in naira, they need to clarify the rationale, notably as shipowners continued to make their shipping-related funds and contributions in {dollars}.

He, nonetheless, acknowledged that he was in a roundabout way concerned within the administration of the fund and was counting on the provisions of the rules and knowledge obtainable to him.

The controversy follows earlier issues over discrepancies in figures launched by NIMASA concerning the fund’s amassed contributions.

In March 2023, the company disclosed that naira collections stood at about N37.57bn, whereas greenback contributions amounted to roughly $269.38m as of October 2022.

The transformed worth of the greenback collections introduced the mixed steadiness to about N148.05bn on the prevailing change price. NIMASA, nonetheless, mentioned the figures have been topic to reconciliation.

Established underneath the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act 2003, the CVFF was designed to supply monetary help to indigenous shipowners for vessel acquisition and strengthen native participation in Nigeria’s coastal and inland transport commerce.

The fund was anticipated to handle one of many main challenges dealing with native operators: entry to reasonably priced long-term financing for buying and sustaining vessels.

However, greater than twenty years after the enactment of the Cabotage Act, the extended delay in making the fund accessible has remained a serious concern amongst business operators.

Shipowners argue that the scenario has left Nigerian firms struggling to compete with overseas transport corporations, which frequently have higher entry to worldwide financing, bigger fleets and extra beneficial borrowing situations.

The Federal Government has, nonetheless, renewed efforts to start disbursement to certified beneficiaries.

At the 2026 Annual Summit of the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Lagos, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, directed NIMASA to speed up the method.

The authorities additionally launched a devoted utility portal in January 2026 and elevated the variety of collaborating Primary Lending Institutions from 5 to 12 to facilitate entry to the fund.

The involvement of extra lending establishments is anticipated to widen entry for certified indigenous operators and strengthen the evaluation and administration of mortgage purposes.

However, stakeholders insist that the federal government’s disbursement plans have to be accompanied by a clear account of the fund’s monetary historical past.

They argue that an unbiased forensic audit ought to set up the overall contributions obtained since inception, the foreign money composition of the funds, investments made, curiosity accrued and any withdrawals or transfers carried out through the years.