Ahead of the collection of the imminent collection of the Practitioners Operations Fee (POF) by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), stakeholders in the nations’ maritime industry have thrown their weight behind the council and the fee.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week in Apapa, stakeholders including the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) all expressed support for the fee.
Also last week, the CRFFN met with the Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN). The CRFFN delegation was led by the Registrar, Mr Samuel Nwakohu.
At the meeting, Chairperson of STOAN, Dr Vicky Haastrup lauded the CRFFN and the POF and pledged the association’s cooperation.
The STOAN told the CRFFN team that, its members were initially apprehensive about the modality for the collection and wanted to know the extent of their involvement.
On the strength of the worries, the CRFFN Registrar availed the terminal operators of the modalities for collection. The Registrar also seized the opportunity of the meeting to inform STOAN of the various steps that have been taken to legalise and institutionise the Practitioners Operations Fees.
In a veiled reference to a media report that was credited to certain individuals alleging that the letter from the Federal Ministry Finance, was fake, the CRFFN said it was pure mischief on the part of the author of the story.
The letter from the ministry had directed that henceforth, payment of POF is a condition for cargo release.
Also, in a chat with our correspondent, the founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam urged freight forwarders to comply with the payment of the fee, adding that it will be used by the council to handle issues that concern freight forwarders.
He added that if the money is not made available to the council, it will be very difficult to handle some of the tasks, even as he fingered lack of knowledge as one of the biggest problems facing practitioners in the sector.
“If the CRFFN does not have that money, those things they want the council to do they will not do it, because they need the logistics in terms of the enforcement aspects of the CRFFN, training they have to fund that and brush all these freight forwarders, so it is not an issue. And we go to the aspect of knowledge, one of the biggest problems in the port is knowledge, a lot of freight forwarders lack the knowledge. Customs and other regulatory agencies some of them are highly technical; you need to be updated to be able to stand and defend your clients”, he said.
Aniebonam added that with the high rate of unknowledgeable practitioners in the industry, it is difficult for officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to function optimally.
“Those customs officers who are intelligent know that the greatest problem they will have to face is the limited knowledge of those who come to do business with them. So CRFFN is the best thing that has happened to the NCS especially when we go to the aspect of the capacity building. Customs are finding it difficult to work, but they are contending with that. So CRFFN is coming to add value to the work of customs as far as revenue collecting is concerned. Many freight forwarders do now know what a dangerous cargo is all about”, he added.
Aniebonam however added that with CRFFN as a government agency domiciled inside the ministry of transportation, is it easier for the practitioners to get government to solve their problems.
“It is our own way to reach out to the government at the highest level and begin to solve our own problems. I think many of these freight forwarders do not really understand what CRFFN is all about, that is the truth. So with the CRFFFN as the government agency domiciled inside the transport ministry, we can get to the government at all levels and begin to solve our won problems”, he argued.
Meanwhile, the founder of AREFFN, Dr, Frank Ukor, however charged the CRFFN to ensure that they have reached an agreement over the sharing formula.
“The issues of POF collection has been over-flogged, it is supposed to have been collected if not because of ANLCA on the sharing formula. The board should reach an agreement meant over the sharing formula.
“I don’t see any challenge collecting the POF, if Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has agreed to be collecting it because of the jobs that are done are done by those who have licenses, they don’t use individuals numbers to pay duty, you will use your corporate numbers. So if they have greed, it will be easy”
Ukor advised the council to key the collection of the fee to the platforms of the terminal operators to make the collection simpler and easier.
“As I said earlier there is no need for them to go to the banks to pay, let the terminals raise a DN so while they are going to pay for other services they will also pay for that one. So that the terminal can withdraw and pay the ones that belong to CRFFN”
“But if they want to go and pay at the bank, they will have a lot of issues, a lot of people will not pay and it will delay the work, there will be congestion at the ports. So let the terminal operators include it into their templates and get it done”, he advised.
On how he will get his members to comply with the payment, he said, “There is no particular strategy we will use to get our members to pay, if others start paying, everybody will pay. If the terminal operators put it in a template that before you cargo is released you must pay, everybody will pay because nobody wants his job to be delayed and pay demurrage” he concluded.
Also speaking, the national president of NAFFAC, Prince Yinka Bakare, maintained that the council cannot work properly without adequate resources, even as he added that the little assistance they get from the government is to pay salaries.
“I want to believe that no matter how big an association is, if you don’t have resources to push it, it won’t work. Yes we know there are challenges and the issues that need to be attended to, but if you don’t have resources you cannot do anything. The little one that were given to the council by the federal government to pay salaries even the staff are complaining that there is no proper welfare. If there are no resources, the council will not do anything”
Bakare reiterated that the people kicking against the collection of POF are not genuine professionals.
“I don’t have any fear about the collection of POF; it is going to be successful, the government had already intervened and it has been gazzetted and it has already passed all that it is needed for the commencement, so I don’t think there is going to be any problem. In any association, when you come onboard there must be challenges, but you will get over that. We don’t need to shy away from professional fees, almost all the professionals are doing it. The council cannot do much for you without the financial muscles to do that,” he concluded.
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