President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday approved the disbursement of the $350m Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund with immediate effect.
Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, made the disclosure at the commencement of the Batch B third phase of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme held at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The minister noted that the fund belonged to shipowners, adding that the Buhari administration had broken a 17-year-old jinx with the approval.
He further revealed that he would meet the Minister of Finance and National Planning and officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the immediate disbursement of the fund which is warehoused in the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government, to be transferred to five approved primary lending institutions.
The minister disclosed that the collapse of the Nigerian National Shipping Line created a gap in the manpower development of the shipping industry, especially in the area of shipboard training and manning.
