Acting President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Mr. Uche Increase has come hard on opponents of the recent ministerial order that collection of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) should start in August.
According to him, those who are currently kicking against the directive are the same people who allegedly had collected such monies and diverting same into their pockets in time past.
Minister of Transportation; Rotimi Amaechi, had fixed August 1,, 2017 as the new date for the collection of the POF from freight forwarders.
But since the order, there have been divergent reactions from stakeholders especially, freight forwarders.
Recently, the National President of the, Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Olayiwola Shittu, advised the federal government to suspend the collection of the POF, saying that it is an additional burden to clearing agents.
But speaking exclusively with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, the NAGAFF President said that since the Minister had directed the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to commence collection, whoever is talking is just exercising his freedom of expression.
“If government gives a directive through a supervisory minister, people are entitled to their speech under freedom of speech, but what matters is the substance of whatever anybody is saying”.
According to him, those speaking from the two sides of their mouth, calling for the suspension of the collection of the POF are just being petty.
He stated that the CRFFN needs money to stay afloat and carry out its statutory responsibilities.
“POF collection is an issue in the public domain. If the government decides to give a directive through a supervisory ministry and somebody or a group is not comfortable with the arrangement under normal circumstances freedom of speech is allowed”
“Everybody is allowed to say his/her opinion, but what matters is the substance in whatever anyone is saying. The association needs the POF, those speaking from the both sides of their mouths saying that it will add to the cost of doing business are just being petty” he told our correspondent.
He explained that what is now called POF was actually known as practising fees.
“The issue actually metamorphosed from practising fee collection before it was christened POF. We know that the Council needs this money to remain afloat. Not only remaining afloat, but to carry out its statutory functions of training, retraining freight forwarders, regulating and controlling companies and associations”, he added.
According to him, people are kicking against the collection because the government wants to step in but before now, the money has been going into personal pockets.
“I don’t really know why people say that it will add to the cost of doing business, ab-initio, the people making these comments were the ones that started the issue of collecting the money under JACOFF practising fee.
But because the government partially wants to be part of it and for the fact that some other people have been collecting this money and converting it to their personal use, they are kicking against it. But now that they want to turn it to government money, they are going against it. Come to think of it, if the practitioners fee will add to the cost of doing business, what of the demurrage that usually accrue on a container that the owner will still pay to clear his container, even foreign charges with terminal operators will rise to millions and people will still pay. A practitioner is asked to pay for just a token and it is for a purpose” he concluded.
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