FG scraps national carrier plan, to encourage private vessel ownership, says NIMASA DG

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ( NIMASA) Dr Dayo Mobereola has announced that the government has scrapped plans to establish a national shipping carrier.

This is coming after the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola had earlier revealed plans by the government to re establish a national shipping line through a Public- Private partnership arrangement.

According to Oyetola, “The ministry’s decision to consider the re-establishment of a National Shipping Line, through a strategic PPP arrangement, is borne out of our desire to capture a substantial share of the estimated $10 billion annual ship charter market within the country.”

But speaking at an interactive session with the maritime media in Lagos on Monday, Mobereola said the government would instead focus on
encouraging Nigerians to own vessels and promoting the Nigerian flag globally.

Mobereola cited past experience of the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line ( NNSL) and emphasized the need for a private sector driven approach where the government creates an enabling environment for Nigerian shipowners to thrive.

“I’m sure you will all agree with me that from past experience, we should not go the way of owning a national carrier that is being owned by the government.

“We should uphold the way of agencies, government creating the enabling environment to encourage the private shipowners to have vessels which we can classified as Nigerian flagged vessels and be supported by government and also encouraged to carry Nigerian goods but inwards and outwards.

“All of these we are working on. So the issue of having a Nigerian carrier is not going to happen but we are going to have Nigeria flag which can sail internationally to all the countries of the world,” he said.

The NIMASA DG added that the agency is also working on fine- tuning guidelines for the disbursement of Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund ( CVFF) for the benefit of indigenous shipowners.

The CVFF, which has been a subject of controversy, Mobereola said is intact with the government and would be used to support the development of the Nigerian shipping industry.

“The CVFF is with the federal government and it is for the use of the shipowners. It is not being touched. It is not a revenue. It is a contribution towards the development of the Nigerian shiping industry and shipowners. That is what it is going to be used for as long as we come back with the fine tuned guidelines on how we want to use it and which we have been working on.

“We are also exploring other avenues to ensure that this CVFF is not just CVFF but enlarged in such a way that we can even leverage on it.

“All of the plans we are looking into and it shall be to the benefit of the country,” he said.