By Moses Patience Chat
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has offered a 9 percent fund support to shipowners in the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for vessels that would be purchased by Nigerian ship-owners using the soon-to-be disbursed Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
The Director General (DG) of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, made this known at the maiden annual lecture of the Institute of Maritime Studies, University of Lagos, which took place on Tuesday.
The lecture was themed, “From Crude to Blue- Nigeria’s Blue e=Economy: The Imperative of Maritime Domain Awareness and Good Governance.”
According to the Agency’s Boss, shipowners have complained that most of them do not have the financial capacity to provide 15 per cent of the funding required of them which is why the NNPC agreed to offer them 9 percent so that the shipowners will only have to source for only six per cent.
“NNPC said it needs ships to lift Nigerian crude and that it will give Nigerian shipowners the specifications of ships to buy and also give them nine percent out of the 15 percent of the funding that was supposed to be provided by the shipowner. They said they will take over the ship and provide the cargo until it recovers the amount invested in the acquisition of the ships,” Jamoh explained.
He also explained that NIMASA is expected to give each shipowner about $25 million, adding that about $350 million would be provided by the agency while the banks will add another 35 percent and shipowners another 15 per cent, adding that buying new ships will allow Nigeria to take over its shipping business and the opportunities in the blue economy.
“Nigeria’s future lies in the blue economy because there has been a drastic reduction in the demand for Nigerian crude because the developed nations are finding alternatives to fuel. This is one of the reasons oil prices have continued to fluctuate in the international market.
“As the world continues to work towards phasing out the use of fossil fuels, now is the time for Nigeria to focus on finding alternative revenue sources to crude oil,” Jamoh said, adding that Blue Economy is one of such alternative revenue generation sources.” he said.
The NIMASA Boss further said that Nigeria needs to change the way it is utilizing the blue economy and also use the water resources sustainably by ensuring that marine resources are used to improve livelihood, enhance growth and create jobs.
Jamoh, however, said that Nigeria must ensure that it develops its national blue economy assets to the level that the continent and the world can accept it.
He further stated that Nigeria can generate energy from the blue economy, grow the tourism industry, boost the fishery industry, and build shipyards and coastal infrastructure.
The chairman of the occasion, Dere Awosika, stated that the blue economy holds many lucrative opportunities for Nigeria adding that the financial institutions have to do a lot of work to ensure that the right finance is made available to develop the industry.
Awosika who was represented by Iyabo Soji Okunsonya, said that the country truly needs to turn blue by everyone putting hands together to do the right thing adding Nigeria cannot continue to depend on crude oil alone.