Barrister Samuel Nwakohu is the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). In this interview with Anozie Egole, he speaks extensively on the efforts of the agency to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the maritime sector, the pending review of the CRFFN Act, as well as other issues.
“It could have looked insensitive and inhuman if my focus remains on POF in the presence of COVID-19”
As the agency in charge of freight forwarders, when the news of Covid-19 broke in the sector, how did you receive it?
Well naturally, we all felt very concerned in the industry, it is something new and most of us do not have any experience about the virus. We only saw what was happening in other countries like China, UK and America; we saw the devastating effect of Covid-19. So when it came to Nigeria, we were also very worried and deeply concerned and when it came to the industry, I mean when practitioners got to know about the virus, some of us were petrified, we felt deeply concerned because at that point; let the truth be said, not many people knew what to do, how to handle it, because it was completely new to our environment. But we had the guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), from the Federal Ministry of Health, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and also from the state ministries also gave guidelines. So we thought the best thing to do was to educate our people on these guidelines and against that background, we went ahead to the ports and actually did some sensitization. We did some sensitization at Apapa ports, Tin-Can ports and also at the cargo section at the airport.
Talking about sensitization, do you think freight forwarders are actually adapting to the sensitization guidelines?
Well, some are adapting to the guidelines while others are not and that was what informed our going to carry out sensitization exercises in these ports. I remembered the first day we went to the ports, I was alarmed with what I saw, people were not maintaining social distancing, most people didn’t even know about it, hand sanitizers were not easily displayed, I didn’t see a whole lot of hand sanitizers I was not happy with the way I saw them. The percentage of their non-adherence to the guidelines was very poor and just like most things that happen in this country; at times we don’t take things serious. Most people do not believe that Covid-19 is real, you see videos of people saying it is for the rich and all that. That would have contributed a lot at the early stage, but I believe that as at today, that impression is gone. 99% if not 100% have come to realize that the virus is real.
What is the Maritime Task Team on Covid-19 which you are the chairman up to, at this moment?
Basically, when the team was set up it was a challenging period for us, and to all the different parts of the industry, the agencies in the sector, came together to set up the team, so that we can collaborate. The terms of reference for the task team is to identify the problems facing freight forwarders and other port users during the lockdown period and proffer solutions to them, and do any other thing as the team deems fit under the circumstance, that was our terms of reference. So first and foremost Mr. President had said that ports nationwide shall remain open during that period that there was lockdown. So if ports must remain open, that means freight forwarders and other ports operators must go to work. So what we did was between the CRFFN and Shippers Council (the foundation people of this task team), we provided transportation, buses and we equipped those buses with security men, each bus had at least one Police officer. And we left instruction that if the capacity of a bus is 30 for instance, they should carry a maximum of 15, so that they can maintain social distancing, we printed identity cards for both members of the task team and we also have the one for freight forwarders. We printed the cards to enable free movement, so that security agencies will not harass freight forwarders this is one of the things we did. There were quite a number of issues and again from that platform we went for the sensitization, we addressed the issue of section 27 & 29 of the Customs Exercise and Management Act (CEMA) which talked about, “Cargo at Sight” to enable them minimize physical contacts, we addressed that, and we are still working on most of them. The issue of banks not working at that time, we caused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to issue directives that banks with branches around the ports should remain opened to enable freight forwarders pay their duties. A lot of efforts went into that, eventually the banks were opened, although I understood that there were some branches that the freight forwarders abused the opportunity and some branches had to close which was unfortunate, but we begged them to re-open.
On the issue of Section 27 & 29 of CEMA Act, is there any further action by your agency to ensure that these sections are properly utilized?
I did say that we wrote to the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) on this issue, we also wrote to the Chairman, Presidential Task Force through our Minister on this issue as well. It is entirely up to them, we have done our beat; which is to identify that it is a problem and this is what we believed will be a solution to it.
There were complaints from freight forwarders about Maersk Line delaying their jobs, what is your take on that?
I have not received any formal complaint about on Maersk Line about delay in cargo clearance but I know some of the shipping lines were accused of one thing or the other. Mind you, the maritime task team is a combination of different agencies and I think the attention of Shippers council was drawn to the issue of Maersk Line. As a committee, we said give it a shot first, talk to them and let’s hear what they have to say, we recently meet with Customs in Ikeja and this issue came up and we said we have to invite them. I have heard people complain, but I don’t have any formal complaint before me which will enable me to say- let me write to them and invite them. If it is just rumour, it become a bit difficult because I can’t work on rumours. But all hands are on deck; the Shippers’ Council has been on top of it; talking with shipping lines and we will also be visiting the shipping lines as a committee.
What is the level of compliance of freight forwarders to the collection of the Practitioners Operating Fee (POF)?
I will be honest to you, I feel disappointed and sad, the level of compliance is nothing to write home about, and it has been interrupted by Covid-19. You all saw the zeal, enthusiasm and it has been my focus from December 2019, at a point I did nothing other than POF and I was hoping that by now, it must have stabilized reasonably well. But Covid-19 came and interrupted that effort, it could have looked insensitive and inhuman if my focus remain on POF in the presence of Covid-19. So naturally, there was an emergency, so my focus had to shift from POF to Covid-19, how we can contend this monster and what do we do to support our people to contend this monster.
What is your reaction on the move for the amendment of the CRFFN Act?
I think have spoken to most of you about the CRFFN Act amendment, the agency called CRFFN was established in 2007 by an Act and it commenced operations in 2009 and it is what I call (as a lawyer) ‘a foundation Act’. The people who drafted and wrote the Act imagined a lot of things, now the operators of the system have been working under that Act. And the Act having spent 10years plus, is entitled for a review. Because in the cause of our operations you must have come to areas where you would have had problems in operations vis-à-vis the provisions of the Act and I will take a little note to say that the provisions of this Act does not allow the smooth operations, it needs to be looked into. Whenever the opportunities come everybody will bring it up that some sections need to be looked into. So I believe that when an Act of this nature is to be reviewed, the whole idea should be for it to be reviewed with a view to strengthening the institution which it established.
So in view of that, would you say CRFFN is behind the amendment of the Act?
Well, I was written to by the legislators to make an input and I made my own input and sent it to the legislators, they are the people responsible for making laws, they can only ask stakeholders to contribute.
Are there plans by the Council to either reduce the number of registered associations or increase them?
If you read the Act, the registration of associations is not one of the functions of the Registrar, it is something the governing council considers. But if you are asking for my opinion, I am looking for a merger body, there are too many associations, as at today they are five with other ones not accredited or registered and they write to me from time to time and I pass unto the governing council as the case may be. There is nothing wrong with having associations, you know each time we meet, the freight forwarders will say that they are professionals; which I agree but if you look, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) among others. I think we can strengthen the industry by making progress, there is nothing wrong with having one, then you have chapters all over the place. So, if I were to be asked I would suggest we look for a way of coming together just like every other professional body.
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