A freight forwarder and the former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr. Eugene Nweke, has kicked against the idea of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) giving license to corporate bodies.
Nweke who said this in a chat with our correspondent, said the idea of issuing licenses to corporate organisations will not help to ensure that there is proper training for practitioners in the industry.
He reiterated that when corporate bodies are trained instead of individuals, it will be difficult for them to be trained.
“You know before now, what people regard as being professional is licensing a firm as customs agency and when you license a firm it is good for all. If you have money to pay Customs, you will get a firm registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), but the truth still remains that the license cannot be trained because it is a corporate body. The owners of the firm have not been professionally trained.
Nweke however reiterated the need for proper training of practitioners in the industry, even as he admitted that Nigerians are gradually coming up in the area of adequate training.
“So can we say our attention should be to train individuals who can now work as freight forwarders who can handle the issue that has to do with the movement of cargos from one point to the other, especially within the ports to ensure that every necessary requirement is met”, he argued
He added that the need for training gave rise to the establishment of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
And for us to achieve that training and certification has to be in place, that is why we are pushing for a regulatory body which resulted (CRFFN) into what we now call CRFFN”.
According to him, “the body (CRFFN) has set up their own code of conduct and they have also accredited some institutions for training. So we are building capacity; we may not have it all, but there are some administrative issues that needed to be reconciled and that is the issue that has to do with the Section 18, 19 of the governing council Act and CEMA section 152, 154”
“These issues must be reconciled so that whoever is applying for customs license must be an individual who is to be trained and certified by the council”
“I am aware presently that Nigerian freight forwarders are gradually taking a center place in the door to door movement of cargoes unlike before”, he stated.
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