The Director of the Maritime Safety and Security Department in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Babatunde Bombata has disclosed that Federal Government said it had advanced the process of developing a national policy on marine and blue economy, which is expected to contribute $2.7bn to the country’s economy.
He said that the ministry had commenced the process of developing a national policy on the marine and blue economy, which would play a great role in enhancing the performance of the shipping sub-sector and boosting trade facilitation as well as economic growth.
Mr Bambata said ‘The development of the policy would provide a comprehensive framework/blueprint to deliver the expected over $2.7bn contributions of the marine and blue economic sector to the national economy and tackle revenue leakages, through the envisaged streamlined approach to the management of the sector.”
He added that the ministry was determined to work towards the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund.
According to the director, the fund is a strategic instrument within the legislative framework to stimulate the expansion of domestic shipping capability.
“To ensure the full implementation of the CVFF, the ministry has constituted a committee to develop clear guidelines and mechanisms to facilitate improved access to the fund by stakeholders in the shipping sub-sector.
“This initiative was envisaged to ensure that the fund achieves its goal of providing the required financial support for indigenous shipowners to acquire, construct and repair their vessels,” the director stated.
He claimed that the fund would allow the indigenous shipowners to fund the acquisition of more vessels at a single-digit interest rate, “limiting cabotage trade to Nigeria-owned, crewed and operated ships, would increase the number of ship fleets/tonnage in the country and attract healthy competition with foreign shipping companies in international shipping”.
