Barring any last minute change the of plans, the five registered freight forwarding associations are to meet today (Wednesday) with officials of the Federal Ministry of transport in Abuja, over the lingering face-off with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
The bone of contention is the collection of the controversial Practitioners Operations Fees, which is already in the Gazette of the Federal Government.
Barring any last minute change the of plans, the five registered freight forwarding associations are to meet today (Wednesday) with officials of the Federal Ministry of transport in Abuja, over the lingering face-off with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
The bone of contention is the collection of the controversial Practitioners Operations Fees, which is already in the Gazette of the Federal Government.
The face-off which has lasted for about one month, has pitched four of the associations, namely: National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) against the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA).
While the quartet is in support of the regulatory agency; the CRFFN the ANLCA has stuck to its gun insisting that certain conditions must be met before the collection can start.
The letter inviting the gladiators, which was dated June 1, 2015 and signed by one Patrick Ekawu, a Deputy Director in the ministry acknowledged receipt of complaints and reports from parties to the conflict.
But, in a quick response to the invite, leaders of the four associations jointly signed what can be termed as a subtle protest.
The letter dated June 5, 2015 and signed jointly by Chief Eugene Nweke Of NAGAFF, Chief Festus Festus Ejiofor of NCMDLCA, Chief CA. T. Agubamah of NAFFAC and Dr Frank Ukor of AREFFN.
They accused ANLCA of brigandage and impunity and specifically accused the association of masterminding the recent attack on officials of the CRFFN at Seme border.
“The latest of these acts of brigandage and impunity was what was exhibited at Seme Border recently that led to the wanton destruction of Government property i.e. the CRFFN Coaster Bus with which the officials of CRFFN who as Government officials travelled to Seme border to carry out an official assignment. The officers were assaulted and some freight forwarders were also beaten up and seriously wounded”, the group said.
Expressing serious reservation about the meeting, they said they were shocked that since the incident was brought to the attention of the Ministry, neither the ministry nor the CRFFN did anything about it.
“The cause of our reservation about this meeting stems from this incident. It is unfortunate that two weeks after this incident, no concrete action has been taken at least to show that the supervising Ministry and CRFFN management are proactive to protecting members of the freight forwarding family from the vandals”
It does not give us the confidence to say that our interest will be protected and that those who have been acting with this brazen impunity will not get away with their malfeasance. We would have expected that the Ministry by now would have at least shown some seriousness in this matter. These elements threatened the Registrar of CRFFN in his office and actually carried out their threat as exhibited at Seme Border”.
“To us this was a pre-meditated act that needed an immediate response but to our utter disappointment this did not happen”, the group said in its letter that was addressed to the Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Transport.
Sources hinted yesterday that today’s meeting will be presided over by the Permanent Secretary.
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