Maritime Bank Takes Off Soon

The much expected Maritime Bank may soon take off. The take off had suffered a series of postponements and delays.This followed a directive by the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman that arrangements for the take off of the bank should commence immediately.

The Minister’s directive is coming one year after his predecessor’s assurance that the bank will soon start operations. P.M.NEWS learnt recently that the minister had already directed the concerned departments in his ministry to liaise with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to commence work on the documentation and essential requirements for the take off of the bank.The directive is to enable officials of both the ministry and NIMASA to start liaising with the appropriate regulatory agencies for issuance of operations licenses.A top ministry official who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that discussions have already begun among the ministry of transport, NIMASA, finance ministry and Central Bank of Nigeria officials. “The minister has directed us and NIMASA to start working on the documentation; he wants it done as fast as possible,” the source said. The source also added that March, 2011 is the deadline given for the take-off of the bank.When reminded that the same minister had about two weeks ago at a stakeholders’ forum foreclosed the injection of fresh funds into the maritime sector on account of alleged non-accountability and mismanagement on the part of the chief executives of some of the agencies, the source explained that the minister’s intention was probably to divert all floating funds into the proposed bank.No comment could be obtained from NIMASA on the issue as a new director-general has just taken over and needed time to be acquainted with the issues at stake.