Amiwero Petitions Tinubu: NIMASA Sitting on Maritime Fund for 20 Years, Never Funded Trucks, Barges for Agents
President Bola Tinubu, Inset is Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dayo Mobereola (below) Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero, President NCMDLCA
By DAPO OLAWUNI
Lucky Eyis Amiwero, National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), has petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over what he describes as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency’s (NIMASA) failure, over two decades, to deploy the Maritime Fund toward building indigenous shipping capacity, including the replacement of what he called rickety trucks and barges used by licensed customs agents and maritime transporters to move cargo out of Nigerian ports.
In the letter, dated July 2, 2026, and copied to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, NIMASA itself, the Lagos State Governor and the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Amiwero anchored his complaint in the NIMASA Act, citing provisions he said obligate the agency to promote indigenous ownership of ships and shipping infrastructure and to develop local capacity in vessel ownership, manning and construction.
He argued that these objectives remain the agency’s core mandate under the law and have gone largely unmet since NIMASA’s establishment.
Amiwero traced the funding source to the 3 percent benchmark contribution deducted from freight earnings on all international inbound and outbound cargo, which he said is ultimately borne by importers and licensed customs agents through freight payments.
“The contribution as contained in Section 15-(a) of (NIMASA) which is the (3)% percent of freight earning on all international inbound and out bound cargo from ship or shipping companies operation in Nigeria is made by Licensed Customs Agent/Importers by freight payment of goods shipped in and out of Nigeria, such payment are included in the freight paid by Importers/Licensed Customs Agents on freighted cargos in and out of Nigeria” he said
He said this contribution feeds directly into the Maritime Fund established under the NIMASA Act, a fund he contends was designed, as it has been used elsewhere in the world, to build capacity for indigenous shipping expansion, and infrastructure such as bonded warehouses, trucks and barges for port cargo evacuation.
Citing the Act’s provisions on fund utilisation, Amiwero said monies in the fund may only be applied to further NIMASA’s objectives, including promoting the development of indigenous shipping and shipping infrastructure, with Nigerian citizens and companies as the designated beneficiaries.
He said despite this clear legislative intent, close to twenty years have passed without the fund being channelled into the kind of capacity-building it was created for, leaving transporters and agents to operate ageing, failing equipment that he said now endangers lives and property along Nigeria’s highways and coastlines.
The petition also referenced a long paper trail predating the current appeal, including a 2025 exchange between NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Justice, and older unanswered correspondence with the Presidency dating back to 2009 and 2011, in which Amiwero said the Presidency had itself directed that NIMASA report on its efforts at local manpower development in the maritime sector using the Maritime Fund. He said no such utilisation has materialised in the years since.
Drawing a comparison with the United States, Amiwero pointed to American maritime policy instruments that predated Nigeria’s own Cabotage framework, including operating and construction differential subsidies, a capital construction fund and a vessel operating revolving fund, all administered through the U.S. Maritime Administration to support fleet expansion and shipping infrastructure. He argued that Nigeria’s NIMASA Act had drawn on similar principles but had failed to operationalise them in practice.
Amiwero’s central request to the President is for the establishment of a revolving loan facility, drawn from the Maritime Fund, to enable indigenous transporters and licensed customs agents to procure new trucks and barges and retire the aged fleet currently in use for port cargo haulage.
He described this as urgent given what he called Nigeria’s expanded coastline and the need for an efficient multi-modal transport system spanning road, rail and coastal routes for the safe conveyance of goods from the ports.
“There is the urgent need to replace the rickety Badges and Trucks with our expanded coastline, to save the port industry of constant breakdown of trucks and badges by granting revolving loan facility that will be used in replacing the rickety badges and Trucks which endangers life and property along the highways and coastlines.
“Our Port needs an efficient multi-modal Transport Means and Infrastructure for proper conveyance of goods on the Road, Rail and Coastline to safe destination” he stressed.
