Joyce Okpala BLOG: APC Asks FG To Account For $800m Fund

The Presidential Campaign
Organisation of the All Progressives
Congress has challenged the
Federal Government and the
Nigerian Maritime Administration
and Safety Agency to account for
the $800 million and N50 billion of
the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund.
The APC campaign said NIMASA
had control of the funds until
recently when the “fund” became
unaccounted for.
This was contained in a statement
signed by the campaign’s Director
of Media and Publicity, Malam
Garba Shehu in Abuja, on Tuesday.
He explained that the “fund” was
money derived as two per cent
surcharge for all contracts under
the Cabotage regime which came
into force in 2004 by the virtue of
the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act
(Cabotage) 2003.
Shehu said the Cabotage Act, which
was closely modelled after the
United States of America’s Jones Act
1938, was to help develop the
capacity and participation of
indigenous ship owners in coastal
inland trade which was largely
dominated by foreigners.
He, however, said that till date the
objective is yet to be achieved as
seen in the depleted Indigenous
Ship Owners Registry, the mass
unemployed Nigerian Seafarers,
and the prevalence of foreign
interests in the Nigerian coastal
waters.
The statement partly read “Instead,
the Cabotage regime breeds
corruption, ranging from request of
inducement and gratification from
foreign ship owners through their
agents for waivers processing by
NIMASA and approval of the
Federal Ministry of Transport by
some top workers of the agency to
the disappearance of the CVFF Fund
meant to be accessed by the
Nigerian ship owners.
“The website of the Nigerian Ship
Owners Association shows that 90
per cent of its 78 registered ship
owners are on the brink of
extinction as they are submerged in
debts without the necessary CVFF to
access.”
Shehu, also said that Nigerians
deserve to know what happened to
the money accumulated under the
CVFF Fund amounting to some
$800m and N50 billion respectively
that the agency should make public
the list containing names of
beneficiaries and amounts from the
“fund” if any.
Source: PunchNg