Omatseye stands by CVFF naira conversion as shipowners demand answers

A former head of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Temisan Omatseye, has repeated his claim that dollar funds in the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) were changed into naira while he ran the agency.

He said NIMASA had ₦52 billion in fixed deposits when he left office in December 2010, and that the sum covered both the CVFF and the Maritime Fund.

The CVFF is money set aside to help Nigerian shipowners buy vessels and grow local shipping capacity. How it is held matters to those owners, because a fund kept in dollars shields them from naira swings when they buy ships abroad.

Why the fund was changed, according to Omatseye

Omatseye, who led NIMASA from 2009, said the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation directed the agency to turn all foreign-currency internally generated revenue into naira and place it in naira fixed deposits. That covered the CVFF and the three per cent surcharge.

He said the order made financial sense at the time: dollar deposits were earning about one to two per cent interest, while naira deposits were paying more than 15 per cent.

He said banks collected the money and moved it into naira and dollar accounts on the 23rd of each month, and that the practice continued until he left.

On what happened after the Treasury Single Account (TSA) came in, he said NIMASA is better placed to explain. "I stand fully by my statement that during my tenure all dollar funds received as CVFF was converted into naira," he said.

Shipowners want the ministry to speak

The Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA) has asked the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to clear the air. Its president, Sola Adewumi, said the fund should stay in US dollars and that the rules on how it is run do not allow a switch to naira.

Adewumi said shipowners still pay in dollars for shipping transactions, and that the ministry and NIMASA should give an official account because Omatseye once held the top job.

NIMASA, however, denied that any conversion took place. In a statement, the agency said money paid into the CVFF comes in different currencies: dollar contributions are kept in dollars with the Central Bank of Nigeria, while naira contributions stay in naira.

The agency said Oyetola is pushing for the fund to be paid out soon, and that applications have been received from eligible beneficiaries, some of whom are completing paperwork with their preferred Primary Lending Institutions. It asked the public to ignore reports that the CVFF was changed from dollars to naira.

So the two accounts do not match: the former director-general says the dollars were changed under his watch, while the agency says the dollar portion was never converted.

What happens next

Eyes are now on the ministry and NIMASA to state plainly how the fund is held today and when shipowners will receive the money. Until then, indigenous operators waiting on the CVFF to buy vessels have no clear answer on whether the fund is still in dollars.