Prince Segun Oduntan (Chairman, Tin Can Chapter ANLCA)
I think the elections into the board of CRFFN should come first, why are they rushing if there is no ulterior motive behind the collection? I think there is a lot of intrigue surrounding the POF collection.
Dr. Frank Ukor (President, AREFFN)
It is really surprising that those who supported the POF collection earlier, which would have started since 2012 if not for disagreement over sharing formula, are now singing another tune. I believe that POF should be collected in order to give the CRFFN a chance to work. POF collection is not illegal. ANLCA went to court seeking an injunction to restrain CRFFN and others from collecting their money. The court has not granted the injunction, but maintained that the status quo ante bellum should be maintained and this means that CRFFN should continue to collect the money according to the Minister's directive and approval. Until the court grants the injunction, POF collection is legal.
Dr. Eugene Nweke (Former President, NAGAFF)
What should come first shouldn't be an issue. CRFFN must be functional so whether it is the collection of POF and election into the governing council of CRFFN what matters is for the council to be functional. If the stakeholders want the election before the collection of POF, the Registrar should invite the associations involved and discuss. CRFFN is a regulatory agency; they are regulating freight forwarders not the Minister. So in making policies, they should carry the stakeholders along so that there will be compliance. The CRFFN should invite the associations and discuss with them. They are not regulating farmers but freight forwarders, so they should be carried along for proper implementation of whatever they decide. They are not regulating people in isolation.
Farinto Kayode (Publicity Secretary, ANLCA)
The big question is; why the haste to collect POF? Why can’t the Registrar of CRFFN allow for the election of the council and after that, the council can take position on the way forward? And don't you think that the licensed customs agents will surfer double jeopardy, considering the analysis above.
The budget of CRFFN last year is yet to be accounted for and this year alone, billions of Naira is also allocated to the council. Has anyone thought of the fact that someone somewhere is actually benefitting from this on-going disagreement all the time.
Stanley Ezenga (NAGAFF)
The collection of the Practitioners Operating Fee should come first before the election into the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria. I said this so that there will be money to run around for the election. Unless there is a budgetary allocation for the election that will carter for all the logistics for the election; if not, they should collect the money first.
Mr Emmanuel Agubanze (NAGAFF)
Since National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders was instrumental to the formation of the CRFFN, we will always support any move to strengthen the council and give it the enablement to carry out its statutory duty which is to regulate freight forwarding in Nigeria. Already the minister has given the timetable for the POF collection so what the minister says supersedes every other thing. The minister said that the collection of the POF should come before the election. You know for some time now, the CRFFN has been without cash and that was the reason they couldn't carry out most of their projects. Maybe the collection of the fee will give them the enablement and help them plan for the election.
Paul Ndibe (CILT)
The truth is that the two are mutually exclusive events. If it is for the purpose of quality and actualization of the purpose for the formation of the council, then they should do it the way the minister has said. If the minister has scheduled timetable for the collection of POF, they should do it like that pending till the time they are ready to conduct election. The one that should cone first shouldn't be an issue.
Discussion about this post