APC Queries Disappearance Of $800 Million And N50 Billion Cabotage Fund From NIMASA Vault
All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organization which recently accused the Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA). Of using Nigeria financial resources to fund the campaign of the Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, is not yet done with the Agency.
In a statement today in Abuja, Director of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Garba Shehu challenged the Federal Government and the NIMASA to tell Nigerians what happened to the $800 Million and N50 Billion of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) which the agency was in control of until recently when the “Fund” became unaccounted for.
The “Fund,” according to Garba Shehu, was money derived as 2 percent surcharge for all Contracts under the Cabotage regime which came into force in 2004 by virtue of the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act (Cabotage) 2003.
He added that the Cabotage Act which was closely modeled after the United States of America’s Jones Act 1938 was to help develop the capacity and participation of indigenous ship owners in coastal inland trade which was largely dominated by foreigners.
He alleged that up to date the objective for which it was established is yet to be achieved “as seen in the depleted Indigenous Ship Owners Registry, the mass unemployed Nigerian Seafarers, and the prevalence of foreign interest in the Nigerian coastal waters.
“Instead, the Cabotage regime breeds corruption, ranging from request of inducement and gratification from foreign ship owners through their agents for waivers processing by NIMASA and approval of the Federal Ministry of Transport by some top staff of the agency to the disappearance of the CVFF Fund meant to be accessed by the Nigerian ship owners.
“The website of the Nigerian Ship Owners Association (NISA) shows that 90% of its 78 registered ship owners are on the brink of extinction as they are submerged in debts without the necessary CVFF to access.”
Garba Shehu made it clear that Nigerians deserve to know what happened to the money accumulated under the CVFF Fund amounting to some $800 Million US Dollars and N50 billion respectively. He wanted the agency to make public the list containing names of beneficiaries and amounts from the “Fund” if any.
He said that time is of the essence in publishing the list following fears that the money may have been diverted for other purposes like campaign for the PDP presidential candidate, and the submission of a request from the Director General of the agency to proceed on a six months leave of absence from the agency. [myad]
Between Buhari And Fayose, By Deen Adavize
Since General Muhammadu Buhari emerged as Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), two agents of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Femi Fani-Kayode and Governor Ayodele Fayose have particularly been out in the open. They have been on duty, trying to pull him, as a person, down, which, by the African standard, can be accepted as the dirty part of politicking. Indeed, in the African parlance, the easiest way to hear about the imagined or cooked-up bad deeds of your ancestors from those who did not even know where you were born, is for you to join politics. It is also in politics that a half-sane young man would insult a wise old man, old enough to be his father. And, like in war, all such things are regarded, to some extent, as fair!
It all began when the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suddenly perceived the danger which the popularity of General Buhari could pose to its bloated ego against the background of the 2015 general elections. The party sent its agents, including the two Whitllow-infected mouthed ones, to dig into Buhari’s past records. They went into the archive and found that, in matters of integrity, honesty, incorruptibility, General Buhari is unbeatable. They began to search hard for at least, something to use in discrediting him.
That was when one of the two agents: the Director of media and publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Fani-Kayode came up with a contrived certificate saga: the matter that did not crop up in the three previous attempts the General made to unseat, through ballot, the PDP Presidents, starting from the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Fani-Kayode madly pursued the course of the Buhari’s certificate and lack of it until he became exhausted even as Buhari kept gathering more momentum.
Just as the dust raised by Fani-Kayode designed agenda to pull Buhari down was settling in the charged political environment, the Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose intensified his phobia about the ill-health of General Buhari which was originally raised by Fani-Kayode.
In the middle of the Fayose’s mad and desperation as he pursued a wish of ill-health for, and even death of, the APC Presidential candidate, he (Fayose) and his brother, Fani-Kayode contrived what was later discovered to be a fake or scammed medical certificate which purportedly showed that the General was actually sick. That could have been enough to land Fayose and Fani-Kayode in jail, but this is Nigeria, under PDP government!
While, as noted, Fani-Kayode has backed down on the issue of certificate, as he discovered that he had exhausted all the tricks he gathered, Fayose is now leading himself blindly into a big valley. He is indeed, turning the extreme case of insultive part of the African politics into lunatic display.
As a matter of fact, Fayose is manifesting an African proverb which says that a hand that frequently goes to the anus unnecessarily and or foolishly would one day, bring out stool (shit).
Fayose displayed his ridiculous ignorance recently when an announcement came that General Buhari was on his way to the UK for a short working visit.
Fayose went to town, as if he was Buhari’s medical doctor or consultant, to tell the world, through, of course, his gullible allies in the media, that the General was actually flown out for medical treatment.
Even when, a few days later, pictures of Buhari personally having a meeting with the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair; of him being interviewed by a Television reporter and of him addressing Nigerian Professionals in London, Fayose still went ahead to dispute the pictures. He said at one time that the pictures were taken in 2013, at another time that the one in which Buhari was being interviewed by a reporter was taken at the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria.
As a matter of fact, when all evidences showed that Buhari was actually in London, the busy-body governor now went spiritual: he asked General Buhari to swear with the Holy Qur’an that he did not visit hospital in London.
Fayose has been so mad at pulling Buhari down that he has not only landed in total confusion, but has now earned the anger of his fellow Yoruba people who see him as a disgrace to the society.
Indeed, the stage at which Fayose is now operating points to only serious matter of insanity. If there is anybody who is sick all over and who needs special medical attention from special hospital overseas, it is Governor Ayodele Fayose. His aides should be of favour to him by assisting to package him into the next available flight to God knows where before it is too late. [myad]