There are indications that the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has intervened in the litigation between the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and four freight forwarding associations and others over the collection of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fee (POF).
Shipping Position Daily learnt last week that the minister had directed the ministry's director of legal services to draft a document which should be signed by all the associations as terms of an out-of- court settlement. This took place before the last hearing of the case in 25th of January 2017
However; the documents were not signed by the associations because the contentious issue of the POF and elections into the board of the CRFFN were not well captured to their benefit.
Confirming this development to Shipping Position Daily, President of Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukor said there were many loopholes in the document drawn by the ministry for the associations to sign.
"On the 25th of January we went to court, but prior to that time, the Ministry of transport and the CRFFN came with some documents for us to sign to be tendered at the court as terms of settlement. But when we looked at it, there were a lot of loopholes, there were issues raised when ANLCA went to court in the first place, they requested that there must be an election into the board of the CRFFN, this was not addressed in the letter"
"Another area is the issue of POF and the declarant. The former minister of transport, Senator Idris Umar had said that 30 per cent of the POF should be given to the associations, we are insisting that this must be done, it is the best way out of this issue and there is need for everyone to sit down and agree on it, then sign the document which they had generated for us", Dr Ukor told our correspondent.
He argued that there is need for the five freight forwarding associations to be represented on the board of the CRFFN by mutual agreement and sharing.
"This is an opportunity for us all to sit down and share the 15 positions on the board among the associations, though the law says we conduct an election but the law was made for man and not man for the law, since there is no fund, we cannot do the elections now. When we agree and give our position to the court, it becomes binding, if this is done, under two weeks the board would be put in place", he stated.
He however told our correspondent that the lawyers had pleaded with the court for more time for them to go and perfect the document and complete their negotiations.
He said that another meeting of the five associations with the ministry of transport is expected to hold soon.
According to him, the court has adjourned to 8th of March 2017.
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