The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) should be populated by licensed customs agents, so says the National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Olayiwola Shittu.
He also said that it is high time the association gets a percentage from the revenue it collects on behalf of the government.
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) should be populated by licensed customs agents, so says the National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Olayiwola Shittu.
He also said that it is high time the association gets a percentage from the revenue it collects on behalf of the government.
Shittu who had just returned from the just concluded custom brokers’ organization conference in India stated this at the association's National Executive Meeting which held at ANLCA National Secretariat in Lagos yesterday.
While briefing the association on the outcome of the CRFFN meeting that was held in Lagos last week, Shittu said that the association still maintains its stance on the collection of the controversial transaction fees collection which had tore the Council apart earlier.
Shittu said that ANLCA is not responsible for the plight of the CRFFN, even as he insisted that as the association is trying to find back its footing, ANLCA members must be well represented in the scheme of things and as a matter of fact take a centre stage.
“I have told them that if the situation that presented itself that time happens again, we will still follow the same position, we are the generators, we are the ones that is going to pay, yet some people want to collect the money and start spending it, it is not acceptable, the condition we gave was that they should go back to where we stopped and they have accepted” Shittu said.
Continuing, Shittu task the council members, ANLCA members, as well as the government to take a cue from the way freight forwarding is run in other countries. He said that freight forwarding should not be made an all-comers-affair and that it must be segregated.
“Which means that the CRFFN today must be populated by custom agents like me and you, yes we are all federation of freight forwarders but what is your specialty? Are you the seller of pure water, transporter, or ship chandler? Why must the money come from only custom agents? It does not make sense, how many other departments of CRFFN has been recognized”
He however expressed the association's readiness to contribute financially towards reviving the moribund council.
“CRFFN is coming back because we cannot allow those who have no business in the port to take over CRFFN, which is why we must play a very important role, especially with what we have seen in India, whatever meeting they call we must be there”
Shittu said that Nigeria should take a cue from India where the role of custom brokers is recognized as one of the revenue generators for the country.
Apparently impressed by the set-up witnessed in India, Shittu hinted that the association is going to mull the changing of it name to include the nomenclature ‘custom brokers’.
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