- NAFFAC yet to benefit from POF reimbursement – Bakare
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Hon. Adegboyega Oyetola CON, is ready to kick-start the amendment process for the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Act.
CRFFN’s Acting Registrar, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, revealed this yesterday as she described the amendment of the CRFFN Act 2007 as crucial to addressing Nigerian freight forwarding woes and repositioning the Council for success.
Uromta was speaking when she led a management delegation of CRFFN to the headquarters of the Nigerian Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), in Lagos on Wednesday.
This remark, however, was in response to the NAFFAC President-General, Prince Adeyinka Bakare’s opinion that the CRFFN is doomed to fail it continues to operate with the current establishing Act with several loopholes.
Uromta’s words: “The amendment of the CRFFN Act is very essential if we intend to reposition the Nigerian freight forwarding industry and meet up the expectations from government, practitioners and the entire industry. The Act has to be amended.”
“Barely two weeks into the appointment of the current Minister for Marine and Blue Economy, Hon. Adegboyega Oyetola, he paid a visit to CRFFN headquarters and listened to our position on the need to amend the Act as well as other issues affecting CRFFN and freight forwarding in the country.”
She explained that the Blue Economy Minister had bought into the idea of amending the Council’s Act and the Council is preparing to formally kick-start the amendment process with an official letter, even as she assured that NAFFAC and other freight forwarding practitioners will be involved in the amendment.
On his part, the NAFFAC President, Bakare, lamented the association is yet to get a dime from the sharing of proceeds from Practitioners Operating Fees (POF), even as he argued that there are shortcomings in the collection process.
His words: “We had an agreement between the accredited associations and CRFFN on the modalities for sharing the POF. However, it is sad that up till now NAFFAC hasn’t gotten N1 as an association from the POF reimbursement. We agreed on a percentage after several deliberations.”
Bakare equally encouraged CRFFN to explore its relationship with the Minister for Marine and Blue Economy in a bid to take charge of other aspects of freight forwarding seemingly jettisoned by the agency. He listed warehousing, logistics, trucking, local handlers, among others; stressing that an amendment CRFFN Act would reposition the agency to handle these areas.
Also speaking, the National Financial Secretary, NAFFAC, Mr. Adolphus Lucky urged the CRFFN leadership to address the multiplicity of taxes at the export seats at Lagos airports.
Lucky lamented that Customs, Quarantine Service, Federal Produce Inspection Service, Police Anti-Bomb Squad, among others have duplicated functions resulting in subtle extortion as their activities attract monetary implications via arbitrary registrations.
