Oyetola Urges Fast Disbursement of $700M Ship Fund

Adegboyega Oyetola, Nigeria’s Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has directed the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to collaborate with participating banks to accelerate the disbursement of the $700 million Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). This directive comes weeks after a report by BusinessDay revealed that shipowners had been waiting for their first payout for over seven months after applying.

The ministry announced that NIMASA had received 92 applications for the fund, with only 20 submitted to the 12 approved Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs), and only one application has been reviewed and returned to NIMASA for approval. The CVFF was established under Nigeria’s 2003 Cabotage Act to assist indigenous operators in acquiring and building vessels, thereby enhancing Nigerian participation in coastal shipping.

Eligible fully Nigerian-owned operators can apply for up to $25 million. The fund had accumulated for over two decades without a functioning disbursement process until the government revived it in January this year.