00:00As a Nigerian, running a legitimate business here in Nigeria, paying all your taxes, paying all your
00:05dues, and one day you approach with a proposal from the federal government to apportion some
00:10percentage of the money, the profit you make from your business, into a particular account so that
00:15in the future you can borrow this money as loan to expand or whatever reasons you want to do just
00:20to keep the business afloat. But years after, you try to get this money and you are being told
00:25different stories. You don't even know where the money is. This is the situation with the Cabotage
00:30Versus Financing Fund. In 2003, the federal government established the Cabotage Act to enable
00:35Nigerian ship owners to trade freely in Nigeria and to carry Nigerian cargo. In 2004, the federal
00:40government established the Cabotage Versus Financing Fund where the indigenous ship owners set aside
00:452-3% of the profit they make from each trade they made on Nigerian water. This is to ensure
00:50that in
00:50the future they can access this money to expand by buying more vessels or to buy a new one.
00:55This is over 20 years. They are yet to access this fund. They are being told different stories.
00:59Each government administration has come and given directives that the custodian of this fund,
01:04which is Nemasa, should disburse this fund.
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