The Inspector General of Police; Ibrahim Idris has deployed 21 Police officers to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to work with its Monitoring Compliance and Enforcement unit to enable it commence Enforcement of its Regulatory roles this week.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily exclusively in Lagos last week, Chairman of Monitoring, Compliance and Enforcement Committee of CRFFN, Mr. Timothy Awogbemi disclosed that the first steps the committee would be embarking upon is to tackle arbitrary shipping charges levied on freight forwarders by shipping companies and terminal operators.
Awogbemi told our correspondent that the committee is divided into three zones; Eastern and Northern and Western Zones, all reporting to his office, saying that this would make implementation and enforcement total.
He equally disclosed that the council would be introducing a uniform professional rate of charges for freight forwarders, saying that, “you cannot charge below or higher than the amount specified by the Council. Some of the freight forwarders today find it difficult to deliver containers because they have under-charged the importer”.
“Also, we are aware that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has engaged shipping companies on shipping charges before, but most of the court judgment were not implemented, we intend to tackle this issue under the ambit of the law of Nigeria”
“Shipping line charges have been paid by the importer at the port of loading, but when they get here, they still collect shipping line agency charges, what is this money for? We intend to find out. We are very particular about charges, however we are not going to over-regulate anything, we would do all things according to the law of Nigeria, all we are after is that freight forwarders should not be exploited”, he stressed.
On the collection of the Practitioners Operations Fee (POF) which also falls under his purview, Awogbemi also assured that the enforcement officers of the CRFFN have all been properly trained to carry out their duties with proper uniforms, and are ready to swing into action. According to him, the Council will commence sensitization of freight forwarders this week.
He told Shipping Position Daily that the Council is not introducing any fee that would increase the cost of doing business at the port. According to him, the POF is already being collected at the port by different freight forwarding associations. He said the fee would now be collected solely by the CRFFN.
“POF initially was kicked against because the five registered associations were not carried along, but now everyone is included, they are all on the council and they know the benefits”
The fee which is already being collected under a different name, but now it would change hands, it is already being collected by the five registered associations, but now we are taking it over”, he said.
He however said that the mode of collection of the POF has not been decided. According to him, it is the prerogative of the CRFFN Chairman, Abubakar Tsanni and Council members to decide the best mode.
Awogbemi also noted that there is a high level of human contact at Nigerian ports, assuring that the CRFFN would address this challenge by ensuring that only freight forwarders with CRFFN identity cards have access to various ports.
He assured that a situation whereby, one of the terminals, PTML Terminal was collecting money from freight forwarders to issue identity cards would no longer be condoned.
“We understand the PTML is collecting money to issue ID card to freight forwarders, we are going to stop that because they are not the owner of the port”
On Customs side, Awogbemi who is also a chieftain of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) also assured that the Council would be writing to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Alli to address some of the challenges experienced by freight forwarders in clearing their cargoes.
“We would embark on enlightenment of all freight forwarders by next week. We intend to write the customs CG on the activities of his men on the highways, after a container is examined at the port, such should not be stopped again, it is leading to delay, apart from these, there are too many tables where you have to sign documents before cargo is released”, he alleged.
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