JULY 21, 2014
164.95
3.25 22.00
3,086.00
16.98
-0.57
107.53 -0.36 102.92 0.06 CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR
154.73 264.6347 209.2878 172.2476 1.5244 0.3002 237.7613 24.9383 41.2569 28.0623 238.5008
155.23 265.4899 209.9641 172.8042 1.5294 0.3102 238.5296 25.0193 41.3903 28.153 239.2715
155.73 266.345 210.6404 173.3608 1.5343 0.3202 239.2979 25.1003 41.5236 28.2437 240.0422
CBN Exchange rate as at 18/07/14
* A Cargo Vessel
Uncertainty over N24.3bn Cabotage Fund •Ship owners, banks lament non-disbursement •Money spent on PR for politicians — Investigation •We're following due process — Ministry, NIMASA BY GODFREY BIVBERE
A
cloud of uncertainty is hanging over the status of theN24,292,481,476 Cabotage Fund (aboutUS$150 million), 11 years after it was established to boost local content in the shipping industry. Known as the Cabotage Vessel C M Y K
Financing Fund, CVFF, the fund was created by the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, 2003, to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition capacity by providing assistance to Nigerian operators in domestic and coastal shipping. Section 42 Part V111 of Section 44
of the Cabotage Act empowers the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to collect, deposit and administer the fund under guidelines proposed by the Minister of Transport and approved by the National Assembly. The Act also limits beneficiaries of the fund to Nigerian citizens and
shipping companies wholly owned by Nigerians. The CVFF is funded through two per cent surcharge of the contract sum performed by any vessel engaged in coastal trading; and monies generated under the act including tariffs, fines and fees for licences and waivers. Vanguard investigations, however, revealed that 11 years after the fund was established, nobody has benefitted from it. Indication to this was given by the chief executive officer of a bank who complained that none of his bank's customers has been able to access the fund despite fulfilling all conditions for accessing it. He added that the situation was not peculiar to his bank. This was corroborated by the chairman of the Nigerian Ship Owners Association, NISA, Isaac Jolapamo. In an interview with Vanguard, he said that he was not aware of any of his members benefitting from the CVFF. On the complaints of banks over non-disbursement of the fund, Jolapamo said that the banks are part of the problem because they are the ones trading with the money in their custody. The reason there has been no disbursement, according to a source
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