Full implementation of Cabotage Act will develop shipping in Nigeria – ISAN President

ISAN President Otunba Sola Adewumi

As Rowaye calls for quick establishment of maritime bank

The President of Indigenous Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Otunba Sola Adewumi, has stated categorically that shipping development would continue to be a mirage as long as the Federal Government of Nigeria is dillydally on the full implementation of the Cabotage Act.

ISAN President made this known while speaking with the press at the sideline of the meeting between the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and ship owners and operators in Lagos, on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

Otunba Sola Adewumi explained that the major challenge mitigating the development of the industry is inadequate funding and averred that no Nigerian ship owners could stick out necks to take bank loans with an interest above 30 percent.

“There is no ship owner in the country who can take a bank loan with an interest rate above 30%. The only solution is the Cabotage Act implementation. It is for us to implement in full he Act, which is designed to boost shipping development,” said he.

While rueing the precarious state of shipping activities in Nigeria, he explained that the real shipping operators do not have vessels to trade despite abundant opportunities in the country except only those who trade in petroleum products that have vessels.

Adewumi, who is the Managing Director of Equatorial Energy Company, a company that specializes in bunker sales, called on the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dayo Moberola,  to further dialogue with real ship owners, not paper ship owners, to chart the way forward for the industry.

Also speaking, the ISAN General Secretary, Otunba Jubril Rowaye, urged the Federal Government to expedite action on the establishment of the proposed maritime bank which, he said, would bring a succor to Nigerian ship owners by providing loans at affordable interest rates to them like the Bank of Industry.

Rowaye maintained that high interest rates on bank loans limit the capacity of Nigerian ship owners and also abhor them from competing  competitively with their foreigner counterparts who get loans at a single digit interest, even less than 5 percent.

The ISAN scribe, who opined that without ship, there is no maritime, insisted on the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund (CVFF) by the federal government, believing that both CVFF and maritime bank will provide huge pools of funds for not only ship owners but for other investors in the industry.

On environmental sustainability, he said maritime stakeholders must adhere and comply with all safety regulations and conventions while the regulator, NIMASA, enforces the rules in line with the international standards.

ISAN Secretary Otunba Jubril Rowaye

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