Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) says the bottleneck affecting the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) will be addressed in the next six months.

The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr BASHIR JAMOH, said this when the Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Shipping, PANOS GLIATIS, with the members of the Nigerian Chambers of Shipping, paid him a courtesy visit in Lagos. 

Dr JAMOH described the disbursement of the CVFF as one of the key hanging fruits that would boost the nation’s blue economy.

He also lamented that the shipping industry's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product was less than one per cent.

According to him, the target of the industry was to surpass the seven per cent contribution of Singapore to ensure a viable blue economy.

The NIMASA boss further noted that from their analysis, there was a decline in the turnaround of vessels coming in and out of Nigeria as a result of many factors.