- Vessel Financing Fund Hits $300m, Say Ship Owners
The Nigeria Indigenous Ship Owners Association has calculated that the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund has accumulated up to $300m in the last 10 years.
The President, NISA, Aminu Umar, stated this during the Annual General Meeting of the association in Lagos.
He said, “The Cabotage Act has been on for over 10 years. The figures being given today is money that has been contributed from 2015 till date. We do not know if it is more than $300m. We are just estimating that it could be $300m or more and from 2015 till date.
“The CVFF has come up to over $150m and when you calculate six years backwards, I think we should be looking at more than $300m.”
Umar explained that the fund was money contributed by members of the association and should be disbursed in line with set down regulations.
He stated that the association had also set up a committee to investigate the fund contributed by members under the Cabotage Act, saying that members deserved to know how the money was spent by the regulatory body, which is in custody of the fund.
He said, “We have set up a committee to look at this. We need to find out what they have done with the $300m that has been contributed. We need to find out what happened to the ones we contributed before 2015.
“We will write the Minister of Transportation for him to also look at it and brief us, because the truth is that the fund belongs to the members; it is a contribution by all members who have paid. All members have the right to ask about how their money was spent.”
Umar added, “It is a question of accountability. We deserve to know what the money has been spent on and if we know what the money was spent on, the next question would be if the spending was done in accordance with the law. If it was spent in accordance with law, there is nothing we can do about it; but if otherwise, we will have to seek the government agency that is in charge to know why due diligence was not followed.
“We are approaching NIMASA and the Ministry of Transportation to know how the money was spent. We may also consider taking a legal action if we are not satisfied with the outcome.”
