The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA) has reiterated its commitment to avoid the mistakes of the defunct Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund (SASBF) in the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund(CVFF)
Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dayo Mobereola who stated this in Lagos at an interactive session with the maritime media on Monday said the agency is focused on planning not to fail
According to him, the nation’s maritime industry has undergone some changes since the earlier disbursements about two decades ago and requires adequate planning that takes about seventy percent of the time to achieve efficiency.
Mobereola said when disbursements begin, it will be sustained to achieve economic development through employment and business growth for investors in the blue economy
The NIMASA DG added that the CVFF won’t be about vessels alone as the agency aims to ensure the availability of cargoes to sustain the continuous operations of the fund and avoid a repeat of the SASBF saga
He disclosed that members of the NIMASA executive management recently visited the modular floating dock for which several proposals have been made on its management. Mobereola said the agency is coming out with a detailed plan to guarantee job placement for maritime cadets and graduates
Mobereola described the agency’s expansion of the blue economy concept with various state governments as an ongoing activity as the country under President Bola Tinubu is committed to economic diversification through the maritime industry.
He said Nigeria can achieve its desire to reduce its over dependence and expresses optimism that Nigeria can make more from blue economy like Namibia which has 33% of it’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the sector.
