The indigenous ship owners may not have access to the $200 million Cabotage Vessels Finance Fund anytime soon, as the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, revealed that the Ministry of Finance was frustrating the disbursement of the fund.
The minister said: “the president made approval saying go ahead and disburse, and the attorney-general said go ahead, the law says it is a private fund but the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed protested that it is a public fund and cannot be spent, so what will I do?” Amaechi asked rhetorically. “I said we would address the issue of security in the maritime sector because the reasons why vessels are not able to go to Port Harcourt, Warri and other places is because of the high cost of insurance.