Vincent Toritseju
Lagos — The Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF, cannot be disbursed for now due to some technical and political issues.
Disclosing this in a chat with newsmen in Lagos last weekend, Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said that the agency is very willing to disburse the Fund because it will add value to the maritime industry.
He said the agency is making plans to overcome the issues that are impeding the disbursement of the Fund.
He further explained that the domiciling the CVFF with Treasury Single Account, TSA, is one of the technical issues affecting the disbursement because of the hurdles in the process of releasing money from the TSA account.
He stated; ‘‘There are political, there are technical issues about the CVFF, the technical issues stems from the guidelines which arise from the law establishing the CVFF.
‘‘Since 2003 till date, we have had a lot of developments; a lot of transformations in the guideline have taken place. In everything we do in this country, there is always a touch of politics. But we have gone a long way; for the first time we shortlisted nine banks and we submitted and requested four Primary Lending Institutions. The banker, the lender and NIMASA all have a percentage to contribute for the disbursement to be complete.
‘‘How will the banker provide its own fund when the CVFF is domiciled in the Treasury Single Account?
‘’These are some of the technical issues we have to address; there should be no sentiments. No doubt, we have good intentions and my bosses also have good intentions over the disbursement of the Fund.
‘‘The greatest problem of leadership in Nigeria is decision making. People sometimes are afraid to make decisions, sometimes, they put sentiments, sometimes they put the issue of religion, so, at the end of the day, no decision is taken. But here in NIMASA, we take a decision to move forward.’’
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