Headlines

Federal Government set to commence disbursement of CVFF

as NIMASA remits N30billion to federation account in Q1, 2022

— intensifies efforts to exit Nigeria from war risk insurance burden.

The Eyewitness reporter

The coast may have cleared for the disbursement of the controversial Cabotage Vessels Financing Funds (CVFF) by the Federal government.

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, pointedly to the bewildered ship owners and other maritime stakeholders that the disbursement of the $350m intervention fund, which has been an object of controversy and subjected to serial delays for about 15 years, may commence by next week.

Speaking at the 53rd sessions of the Presidential Media chat organized by the President Media team, in Abuja Thursday, the NIMASA boss disclosed that 11 Primary Lending Banks(PLBs) have been shortlisted to facilitate the disbursement.

He said the long-anticipated exercise would be kicked off with the inauguration of the special committee by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.

Jamoh bemoaned the absence of indigenous fleets, stating that the disbursement of the funds will not only enhance local shipping business but also assist in creating jobs for the over 2041 Nigerian Seafarers trained by the Agency.

He disclosed that NIMASA has trained about 2041 Seafarers in various institutions overseas, out of which over 800 have gained jobs with shipping companies, globally

“We are unable to retain them here, due to the absence of fleets to provide jobs for them in Nigeria, after their training overseas

“ One vessel can employ up to 40 of them. The shipping business is capital intensive, thus government needs to give helping hands to potential ship owners.

“We need them to feed into our own system if the fleets are available.

The NIMASA DG also disclosed that the agency is working hard to exit Nigeria from the war risk insurance charges imposed by foreign shipping companies.

He said he was confident that this surcharge, which he said was no longer justifiable, would soon be a thing of the past due to the improved safety records at the Gulf of Guinea.

Jamoh stated that efforts are on to ensure that shipments of goods and services to Nigeria from Europe no longer attract “ War risks insurance”

He disclosed that payment of war risks insurance has been going on for 25 years following insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, but noted that with the recent safety records in the region, ships coming into Nigeria waters don’t need to pay such risks

“ There are three basic insurance charges which include “ War risk insurance, insurance on the valuables in the ship and personnel insurance for workers in the ship”

“These are the three key elements which we ought not to be paying, as they are responsible for a 90% increase in the prices of goods and services imported into Nigeria.

“ They have commended NIMASA for the security recorded in the Gulf of Guinea and we are waiting for the report from the Lloyds of London very soon, we hope to exit this insurance

He further disclosed that security in the Gulf of Guinea had been primarily aided by the deep blue project, adding that “the Gulf of Guinea has recorded zero attacks since the last quarter of 2021 to date

“ We have not experienced any attacks in Nigeria since the last quarter of 2021 to date which was why they have removed us from the piracy list.

Jamoh also disclosed that the agency remitted N30b into the federation account in the first half of 2022,

He stated further that the agency has five vessels and ordered seven new ones.

“Under the deep blue project, the agency acquired 2 specials mission vessels, 3 specials mission helicopters, 16 armoured vehicles that can enter the creeks, 2 special mission aircraft, 17 special interceptors, and four unmanned air surveillance, for data transmission for possible intervention, 600 specially trained forces to respond to threats on the high sea”

Stakeholders, who spoke with our reporter, over the latest promise of disbursement of CVFF, were largely skeptical and said they were not elated by this new promise.

“We have been treated to this type of promise for about 15 years now, so nothing is exciting about it.

”We shall maintain a studied silence and restrained enthusiasm until the government works its talk” one of the disillusioned indigenous ship owners declared.

It could be recalled that the Minister of Transportation, Engr Muazu Sambo, has also promised that the controversial Cabotage funds will be disbursed before his short tenure ends.

He had vowed to break the jinx on the disbursement of the cabotage funds.

”If there is a jinx about the CVFF, I am going to break it by getting it disbursed to deserving Nigerians.

”If these funds are disbursed, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the Federal Ministry of Transportation will take credit, while it remains a legacy in your(NIMASA) administration,” the minister had said.

The Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), is an intervention fund created to help the development of indigenous shipping capacity in Nigeria.

It is the two percent deductions from the Cabotage contracts executed by indigenous ship owners.

The disbursement of the CVFF is backed by the provisions of Section 42(1)-(2) of the Cabotage Act 2003, enacted to promote the development of indigenous ship acquisition capacity by providing financial assistance to Nigerian operators in domestic coastal shipping.

Related Topics:featured FG to disburse CVFF

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Headlines

Alleged N8.5bn Fraud: You Have Case To Answer, Lagos Court Tells NIMASA Staff, Ex-JTF Commander

The Eyewitness Reporter

Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, April 22, 2024, told a former Commander of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe (rtd.), and a staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Kime Engonzu, that they have a case to answer in the alleged N8.5bn money laundering case brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Atewe and Engonzu are standing trial on a 22-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8, 537,586,798.58, which also involves a former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and Josephine Otuaga, also a staff of NIMASA.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga, sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”

They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.

In the course of the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses and subsequently closed its case against the defendants.

However, the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed a no-case-submission.

Akpobolokemi had, in a no-case submission, filed by his lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an acquittal without having him present a defence.

Ruling on the no-case submission on Monday, Justice Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi and Otuaga, the fourth defendant.

He, however, ruled that Atewe, the second defendant, and Engonzu, the third defendant, should open their defence in counts 12 to 22 of the charge.

Headlines

EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, threatens to resign if Yahaya Bello is not brought to justice.

Ola Olukayode, EFCC Chairman

The Eyewitness Reporter

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Mr Ola Olukoyede has expressed his determination to bring the fleeing former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello to justice, vowing to resign if he fails to do so.

The EFCC boss made the pledge on Tuesday in Abuja while addressing media executives at the Corporate Headquarters of the commission.

Bello has been on the run and declared wanted by the anti-graft agency over an allegation of money laundering to the tube of N80,246,470,089.88 (Eighty Billion, Two Hundred and Forty-Six Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand and Eighty Nine Naira, Eighty Eight Kobo).

The EFCC boss declared that the fleeing former Kogi State Governor can only run but cannot hide.

He also revealed how he made personal efforts to invite the suspect to respond to investigations regarding his alleged involvement in money laundering allegations.

According to the EFCC Chairman, he had a telephone conversation with Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC.

“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor.

” He said, I can’t come, claiming that a certain lady has surrounded the EFCC with over 100 Journalists to embarrass or intimidate him and all that stuff.

“I said if that is your fear, I will make you come directly to my floor. I will invite my operatives to interrogate you in my own office.

” What could be more honourable than that? Do you know what he said? ‘Can’t they come to my village?’ My Director of Investigations also sent a message to him”, he said.

The EFCC’s boss said he was worried at the report of larceny available to the EFCC concerning the former governor.

“A sitting governor, because he knew he was going, he moved money directly from the government’s account to a bureau-de-change to pay his children’s school fees in advance, $720,000, in anticipation that he was going to leave government house”, he said.

He denied the claim that he was being used against Bello, saying he inherited the case file on the suspect.

Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC, in its bid to ensure the safety and stability of the foreign exchange market, has uncovered a new fraudulent scheme called P2P, peer to peer trading scheme.

The platform, according to him, is operating outside the official banking and financial corridors, with more than 300 (Three hundred) accounts linked to it already frozen by the EFCC.

He disclosed that if the EFCC has not moved against these Ponzi operators, the Nigerian economy would have once again crashed.

He reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to the economic growth and development of the country, promising that the EFCC would not relent in the exercise of its mandate.

He told the media executives that the Commission has recovered more than N120billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.

He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria.

‘’If you support the EFCC, you are working for the growth of Nigeria. We all have stakes in the well-being of our nation”, he said.

Headlines

EFCC denies disobeying court order on Yahaya Bello

Ola Olukayode, EFCC Chairman

The Eyewitness Reporter

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has denied the widely held claim that it flouted a court order restraining it from arresting or harassing Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State.

The EFCC said this clarification became necessary against the backdrop of arguments and counter-arguments on whether the anti-graft agency has disobeyed a court order concerning the botched arrest of the former governor of Kogi State.

In a Press Statement signed by the EFCC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the Commission clearly pointed out that though Bello sought refuge in a fundamental rights enforcement action through an order granted by Justice Isa Jamil Abdulallahi of the Kogi State High Court, the order did not vitiate or nullify an order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of the former governor for the purpose of his arraignment.“The enrolled Order of the Kogi State High Court only granted an order to enforce Bello’s right to personal liberty and freedom of movement, it didn’t preclude the Federal High Court ‘to make any Order as it may deem just in the determination of the rights of the Applicant and the Respondent as may be submitted to her for consideration and determination”, he said.

He further stressed that “The Order made by the Federal High Court for the arrest of Mr. Yahaya Bello for the purpose of his arraignment is not in conflict with the Order of the Kogi State High Court.

“The case before the Federal High Court is a criminal charge which is different from the fundamental rights enforcement action that is the subject of an appeal”.

Uwujaren pointed out that the EFCC had a shining track record in the prosecution of politically exposed persons and would continue to exercise its mandate in the overall interest of the nation.

” He admonished Bello to turn himself in and answer to the charges preferred against him by the Commission.

He called on all patriotic Nigerians to lend their voices in support of the Commission stressing that ” the EFCC will not relent in its quest to wrestle corruption to the ground”