Stakeholders at the 2026 Lagos Maritime Week roundtable have called for urgent Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) disbursement and stronger collaboration to accelerate Nigeria’s maritime development.

They made the call on Tuesday while examining gaps between maritime policies and their implementation across West and Central Africa.

Ms Iroghama Ogbeifun, Managing Director, Starz Investment Company Ltd.

, urged the government to expedite disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund.

Ogbeifun, also a Board Member of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said policy without implementation remained ineffective.

“Policy without practice remains a document,” she said, stressing the need for policies capable of transforming Nigeria’s maritime industry.

She said accessing the CVFF would enable Nigerian operators to acquire vessels, reduce dependence on foreign ships and expand domestic shipping.

Ogbeifun said delays in accessing the fund continued to constrain growth, competitiveness and job creation within the maritime sector.

She disclosed that 20 of 92 CVFF applications had reached the bank for processing, urging speedy approval to unlock funding.

According to her, faster disbursement would strengthen indigenous ship ownership and increase Nigerian participation in domestic shipping.

Ogbeifun also identified human capacity as a major challenge, questioning whether adequate trainers, equipment and curricula existed to support maritime innovation.

She urged collaborative training between Nigerian operators and foreign partners to develop seafarers, engineers and shipyard technicians.

Ogbeifun said companies should invest in workers rather than poaching trained personnel from competitors, while the government should strengthen cadetship programmes.

Capt. Niyi Labinjo, moderator of the session, urged stakeholders to move discussions beyond rhetoric and focus on actionable maritime solutions.

Labinjo said policies would continue to “gather dust” without sustained collaboration among regulators, operators and regional maritime organisations.

He called for regular platforms beyond annual maritime events to sustain dialogue and ensure continuous feedback between regulators and operators.

Mrs Tokunbo Jakande, NIMASA’s Head of Shipping Operations, identified fragmented governance and weak data-sharing systems among major operational challenges.

She said innovation should follow policy direction, stressing that Nigeria’s maritime future depended on quality services supported by automation.

Jakande explained that NIMASA’s command, control, communication and computer systems monitor vessel movements and provide real-time compliance information.

She said regulators must convert maritime domain-awareness data into actionable intelligence without creating additional bureaucratic delays.

Ms Olimotou Malang, Director-General, Gambia Maritime Authority, said capacity building must precede digitalisation for technology investments to produce sustainable results.

“Technology without skilled people cannot deliver results,” Malang said, stressing the need for modern maritime training across Africa.

She advocated a single maritime window for West and Central Africa under the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA).

Malang said language barriers and individual national efforts were hindering regional integration, although MOWCA was working toward a regional solution.

Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Dr Kingsley Igwe, warned against excessive dependence on digital systems.

Igwe, represented by CRFFN Director, Peter Akunubi, said manual alternatives remained necessary during transition and periods of system downtime.

He said CRFFN was training freight forwarders and issuing certificates in manual inventory procedures to ensure operational continuity.

Igwe called for a single database among agencies to eliminate repeated information requests, improve data security and strengthen accountability.

The stakeholders resolved that regional cooperation, capacity development and sustained public-private dialogue were critical to moving maritime policies from paper to practice. (NAN)

Stakeholders in the economic sector have identified decaying infrastructure and multiple taxation as major obstacles militating against sustainable industrial growth in Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa.

They also listed inadequate funding, insecurity, and poor management as crippling industries across the states.

The stakeholders, including manufacturers, entrepreneurs, industrialists, and public officials, said this in separate interviews on Tuesday in Bauchi, Dutse and Gombe.

Zonal Coordinator, Industrial Development Centre (IDC) in Bauchi, Abdullahi Hassan, said that decayed infrastructure and poor management were largely responsible for the collapse of industries in the state.

He said that dilapidated roads, lack of functional rail transport, and inadequate logistics and multiple taxation isolate industries from market access.

Hassan said that the industries failed to standardise products for export due to lack of good management and poor market strategies.

 “These are financial burdens that startups bear. In the event that they are unable to pay the taxes, they close down,” he said.

Hassan listed some of the moribund industries in the state, to include Steyr Nigeria Ltd., Supercor Industries Ltd. Bazamri Ltd. among others.

Head of Transactions, Bureau for Privatisation and Economic Reforms (BPER), Shuaibu Mohammed, attributed the trend to the inability of the industries to adapt to modern technologies.

He said that the high cost of acquiring modern machineries and training of workers made it difficult for the companies to modernise their operations.

Mohammed called for viable intervention programmes, to ease tax burden, improve infrastructure and provide financial support for industries to revive their productions and create jobs.

Also, an official of the Bauchi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (BACCIMA), who pleaded anonymity, attributed the collapse of state-owned industries to poor managerial skills.

He urged the state government to adopt appropriate criteria for selecting managers, to ensure that competent professionals were appointed to oversee industrial enterprises.

The Gombe state government said that it has initiated industrial development programmes to accelerate economic diversification and address unemployment.

Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Tourism, Alhaji Nasir Aliyu, said that the government invested in infrastructure to attract investors and transform the state into an industrial hub in the North-East.

He said that the government spent about N26 billion on the establishment of the Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park, in a renewed employment and investment drive.

 “The 1000-hectare industrial park has critical infrastructure, including road networks, water supply and 24-hour electricity to support industrial operations.

 “About 12 companies have secured approval to operate at the park, with some already producing while others are constructing their facilities,” he said.

Aliyu said that about 1,000 jobs would be created at the park, adding that the employment opportunities would increase when the facility became fully operational.

He said that farmers and grain dealers supplying raw materials to industries would benefit through improved access to markets and better returns on their investments.

 “We have no state-owned industry, rather, we are providing an environment conducive for industries to be established and thrive through Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives,” he said.

He said that the Nasarawo small-scale industrial cluster, housing groundnut oil processors and rice millers, currently employed more than 5,000 workers.

The commissioner attributed the feat achieved to deliberate government policies aimed at improving the business environment and attracting investment.

In Jigawa, the state government has embarked on a 170.8-hectre Gagarawa Industrial Park project to serve as a regional manufacturing, trade, logistics and distribution hub.

Commissioner for Information, Youths, Sports and Culture, Sagir Musa, said that 15 plots had been allocated to companies affiliated with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), while 20 other plots were allocated to investors.

He said that the measure was imperative in view of the fact that the state industrial history has not been encouraging.

Musa said that privatisation subsequently produced a turnaround for some of the enterprises, illustrating both the difficulty of government-owned industrial ventures and the potentials of competent private-sector management.

He said that the state government has developed a PPP framework and a project portal, including the Comttra Jigawa hibiscus facility, and CoAmana’s digital market project, an agripreneurship incubation programme, agricultural and renewable-energy initiatives.

Musa recalled that during the 2026 Jigawa Economic and Investment Summit, the government announced $140 million investment commitments and adopted 40 recommendations covering investment; climate reform, agriculture, renewable energy, industrialisation, human capital and monitoring.

According to Musa, the initiative aims to strengthen local production, reduce dependence on external supplies and create employment.

He said that the success of the industrial strategy would not be measured by the number of agreements signed, investment summits organised or plots allocated, rather, by the number of industries operating in the state.

Similarly, Lamido Nasir, an industrialist, said that Jigawa was endowed with prolific agricultural resources, including rice, sesame, hibiscus, groundnuts, wheat, vegetables and livestock.

He said that the economic value associated with these commodities could be captured outside the state.

Nasir highlighted that agric export tax, unfavourable marketing and pricing policies, export restrictions, weak investment and the neglect of agriculture contributed to the collapse of industries.

He advocated for proactive industrial policy to address challenges associated with energy crises, finance, roads, security, taxation, access to land, skills, technology and markets simultaneously.

 “The state government must also establish mechanisms for continuously monitoring factories after commissioning so that today’s new industries do not become tomorrow’s abandoned projects.

 “Jigawa’s industrialisation is no longer simply an economic aspiration as it has gone beyond that.

 “With its rapid growth of youthful population and limited formal employment opportunities, building productive industries may be one of the most effective ways of converting agricultural wealth into sustainable jobs and broad-based economic growth,” he said. (NAN)

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has elevated terrorism financing supervision to a current supervisory priority, as part of its ongoing commitment to protecting the Nigerian financial system from abuse by illicit actors.

The Ag.

Director, Corporate Communications  and Investor Relations Department, Hakama Sidi-Ali, said in a statement that supervisory priority covers, at a high level, terrorism financing risk management, terrorism financing transaction monitoring, targeted financial sanctions implementation, and terrorism financing-related suspicious transaction reporting.

According to the statement, the Bank will continue to apply a risk-based supervisory approach, including on-site and off-site engagement, to support effective AML/CFT/CPF controls across the financial sector in line with existing legal and regulatory obligations.

“This supervisory focus also supports Nigeria’s ongoing domestic and international cooperation on counter-terrorism financing, counter-proliferation financing, financial integrity, and the protection of the financial system.”

It said further supervisory engagement will be undertaken as appropriate.