Barring any last minute change, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is set to remove the names of three associations from the list of its five registered associations.
Shipping Position Daily confirmed last week that the regulatory agency had last year submitted results of its assessment to the supervisory ministry of transport.
Barring any last minute change, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is set to remove the names of three associations from the list of its five registered associations.
Shipping Position Daily confirmed last week that the regulatory agency had last year submitted results of its assessment to the supervisory ministry of transport.
Our source at the ministry also confirmed that the trio of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLA), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFF) and National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) have been recommended for deregistration by CRFFN.
It was however learnt that why action has not been taken on the recommendation was because the Ministry directed the CRFFN to take a second look at it to ensure that there are no loopholes.
Shipping Position Daily confirmed that only the duo of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) scaled the hurdles.
Our source hinted that, the CRFFN may have been hampered in taking action because of its current financial situation.
“The ministry is aware of the situation of things with the Council, so we know that, going after the defaulting associations may not be feasible for now, but, I am sure that the recommendation will still be upheld”.
“We know how many of them are really up and doing and we know those that are operating from one room. The essence of the periodic audit is to ensure that those that have fallen below the threshold are weeded out”, he explained.
But in a chat with our correspondent recently, the Registrar of CRFFN, Sir Mike Jukwe refused to confirm the status of the registered associations.
“I will not want to mention that now, because we have carried out an oversight function, we have sent our report to the ministry, they may not approve in total what we have recommended, so if I tell you now and it turned up not to be so, it will not look good, let us just be patient, by the time we receive approval from the ministry based on our report, then we will be able to announce it”, he explained.
He confirmed that, “we carried out an oversight of all the five associations, we know their strength, we know their weaknesses but it is subject to approval of the minister and the moment we get that we will make it public”.
According to him, “the laws are very clear, if go to our regulations on the accreditation of associations, the conditions are there, the associations themselves know the conditions they are supposed to meet, they don't need us to tell them, they can access themselves on areas they are not meeting up, so if they feel they have not met the requirement, the law will be upheld, you can only be de-registered when you don't meet the criteria”.
“It is a continuous process and by the time we receive our approval, we will make it public’, he confirmed.
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