The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) has begun the registration of freight forwarders operating at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
Although the exercise which commenced on March 1, 2025 is said to be free at the moment, there are concerns that FAAN plans to collect as much as N650,000 per licensed company as registration fee, a development which has sparked off anger and frustration among the air freight forwarders.
Some stakeholders have argued that by this registration, FAAN has gone beyond its mandate and was now stepping into areas not cut out for it by the Act establishing it.
“They don’t have the powers by their enabling Act to do it, the only agency among the Federal Government aviation agencies which has such power is the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA which regulates and registers airlines, crew, airline agents, and others in purely aviation activities” said an agent at Hajj Camp.
He added that the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is already there and is the only regulatory agency for all freight forwarders while Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) registers and licences freight forwarders who desire to be Customs Agents.
“Freight forwarding is about the movement of cargoes by land, air and sea and comes. It falls under CRFFN regulation and registration. The government agencies that freight forwarders deal with in their activities at the airports are the Customs and ground handling companies like NAHCO and SAHCO involved in the processing of import and export cargo. FAAN is not one of the government agencies according to its enabling Act.”
Another stakeholder who spoke to our correspondent queried, “Suppose an owner of goods comes to clear his cargo himself or with export cargo himself, would FAAN say he should go and register? No!” He explained that FAAN is just a landlord but wants to illegally intimidate and intrude in the business of his tenants.
News Diet observed that several stakeholders criticized FAAN for stepping outside its mandate on the matter, even though the speakers preferred anonymity for fear of victimisation.
FAAN’s move to register air freight forwarders shouldn’t be a problem, however, it becomes a huge burden if the essence of the new development is to rake in more revenue without rendering any legitimate service.
FAAN operates as the landlord of the aviation environment in a model similar to Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) operations at the nation’s seaports.
“There are some additional services that FAAN can offer in the aviation sector within their enabling Act but the agency doesn’t have the power to license or register any of the players coming into the environment of their tenants. They have no regulatory powers in that regard after granting concessions to NAHCO and SAHCO.
“Registration is an initial thing, when they are done with that, they will introduce payment. They will come to port charge for which they render no legitimate service and this may rise to something up to N50.00 or N60.00 per kilo which ultimately increases the cost of cargo imports and exports,” another airfreight agent lamented.
Others sources who spoke with our correspondent on this matter bemoaned other charges FAAN collects from the operators at the airport without attaching any service to it, including Port Charge without legitimate service rendered.
Freight forwarders wonder why FAAN collects such charges on cargo since it legitimately collects Landing and Parking charges and fees from airlines and these charges are based on factors that include cargo weights on the aircraft.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that there is Passenger Service Charge (PSC) levied on tickets for outbound passengers and the proceeds are shared between FAAN and NCAA as provided by statutes and with FAAN being provider of baggage handling services, including baggage scanning at passenger terminals.
The problem, however, is that passenger terminals aren’t the same as cargo sheds. The biggest question on the lips of air freight forwarders is – what service is FAAN legitimately rendering at cargo sheds?
It is expected that the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of CRFFN, Mr. Kingsley Igwe and the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Mr. Festus Keyamo will intervene in a bid to address the matter.
Meanwhile, the General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Mrs. Ijeoma Nwosu-Igbo admitted that some registration were going on at the cargo terminal adding that the whole essence of the registration was to determine those who do business at the airport.
She, however, disclosed that the registration was not specific to the freight forwarders but to all groups doing business at the airport, each registering according to his or her group.
“Let me tell you, the idea of carrying out that registration is to know who goes into that terminal and what business they do there and it will enable FAAN serve them better. So, I don’t understand the controversy,” she remarked.
