Mr Kingsley Igwe is the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). He was recently at the headquarters of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders on a courtesy visit. Joshua Yousouph was there. Here are some insights into the interactions at the meeting, as reported by him.
“.Under my regime, we will bring the training to the port terminal”
- “Import and export declaration rightfully should begin at the doorstep of CRFFN not Customs”
There seems to be a misconception about CRFFN’s role. Can you clarify its regulatory position?
I want to begin, first, to correct an impression that was created that CRFFN regulates the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). No. CRFFN is a sister agency as NPA, under the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. Just like NIMASA, just like Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), just like NIWA, and the rest. CRFFN is one among the agencies under the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Let’s move on to capacity building. What is CRFFN doing differently this time regarding the training and retraining of freight forwarders?
You all know that when I was active as a NAGAFF member, I was a strong voice against CRFFN in terms of capacity building, providing requisite training to professionalize the freight forwarders; the practitioners. But I want to make something clear here. It might not have got it right in the past, but this time around, we have no choice but to get it right, because it is out of the training that I received that I am what I am today in the industry. So what I am assuring you and what I am bringing to the table here is everything that I have learned to make me a professional practitioner in the industry. And I believe it is exactly what is lacking in Nigeria at large. We practice without training.
Could you elaborate on your plans to update the training curriculum and how it will be delivered?
You believe me that a lot of us enter into the industry being an apprentice. On the flip side, the industry where we practice is a knowledge-based industry. It is regulated globally. It ought to follow global conventions, global standards in operation, in service and in convention. There are lay-down principles, but unfortunately, these principles have not been exposed to us in the industry. It’s not that it is not there, it’s there, but we don’t know why we have not been able to assess it. But this time around, we can assess it now. That was why I personally made it a point of priority that training will no longer hold, not that it will no longer hold, but it will not only be held in places like UNILAG where many cannot go and afford it, like the accredited institutions that are far away from our point of operation. Under my regime, we will bring the training to the port terminal. Everybody who can make out time to participate should come in and participate. That is one. That way, I don’t think anybody has any excuse. So if you don’t know what the industry is all about anymore after the training, you’re on your own.
How will you ensure that the curriculum is relevant and localized to the needs of freight forwarders?
I’ve been consulting all this while. There is no way we can get it right without consulting. I’ve been consulting both people in the industry, outside the industry, even overseas. How can we strengthen and make our curriculum better, so that it is usable and can be localized? Because even what has been dished out before actually seems to be a borrowed curriculum. So this time around, we’re going to localize it such that the training I’m bringing to the freight forwarders should be relevant to their practice. I’ll be talking about, for example, principles of economics or principles of engineering or workshop practice. You have no business with that. Rather, you should know the international conventions that guide custom practice and custom regulations. What are the ideal steps in clearing and forwarding, introduction to freight forwarding. How can you become a freight forwarder? What do you need to do in order for you to professionalize as a freight forwarder? All of this and more, we have taken notice of and those are the things, and rudiments that we are bringing into the curriculum that we would use this time around. Everybody has to benefit from that.
There is a mention of mandatory capacity building regulations in the CRFFN Act. What steps are being taken in this regard?
It is a mandatory regulation in the Act that this exercise should be carried out by the agents. As I speak with you, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy is very much interested as to how many freight forwarders do we train annually. The Presidency is also interested in that; in capacity building. That was why we gave every ministry what they call a performance bond. A performance bond is like a KPI for assessing the performance of every ministry and that trickles down to the agencies. One of them is this capacity building. It is infused as a priority agenda in our agency this time around. The freight forwarding community will not lose out anymore.
What challenges have you encountered with revenue collection of POF and payment systems?
Indeed, I acknowledge the challenges. As a matter of fact, sometimes trying to solve the problem makes me shed tears. We are losing huge revenue in huge figures. Currently, it seems so because we are using a third party for the collection of POF. That is why most of you, when you genuinely want to make a payment, there are a whole lot of issues from network failure to unavailability of the platform to even double debits or multiple debits without reversal. Then you go here and there trying to solve the problem.
In the past, actually, there has not been that payment of the declarant fee. I was one of those that challenged the Ministry of Transport when they came the last time, if you remember, I think last year or last two years on this POF declarant fee. This is one of the ways by which we feel we can encourage those of you who have been honest in your payments. What we need to do is to have accurate data. Most people have not been able to enjoy it because the data is not at the moment organized. It is also difficult to be able to identify who and who should rightfully benefit by what amount or that. We are actually reviewing all of that. Definitely, for those who have been very faithful and religious in paying, will get their feedback when the time comes. That is assured. We are working on that. There is no way we will eat our own and eat your own. That is for sure. Because we know we need this collaboration in order to improve on our revenue. As part of the strategy to improve on our revenue, that is on the table already, I assure you.
Can you share your thoughts on licensing, certification, and the recognition of practitioners versus Custom brokers?
Let me correct that impression. It is not Nigerian law that custom declaration be made primarily by licensed agents or brokers. It is rightfully called custom brokers or custom brokerage. These are corporate entities licensed by customs who will carry out the business of making imports and exports declarations on behalf of third parties or even for self. This is according to the World Custom Organization standard. It is not in any way a Nigerian condition alone. No. However, there is a limit to those who can access the port. It is not that you have a custom license that gives you an avenue to access the port. This is where the Nigerian Port Authority comes in. That is how the structure is. And for the fact that the Nigerian Port Authority is the landlord, the owner of the port environment, they define the users. So, the regulatory agency for each service now comes into play and that is where CRFFN comes in. To regulate logistic service providers at the port
There have been discussions about the non-issuance of CRFFN ID cards to registered members. What is your take on that?
Yes, the Act provides that you be issued that ID card. And that is one of the things that we have put on the table. As a matter of fact, even the Act establishing CRFFN, we have to review it because most of what you have not even known that is a benefit to you is somehow not included in the Act. So, we are bringing all of them into the act this time around. So, definitely there is a need to review the act that establishes CRFFN in order to capture most of these things and in the right manner where they should be. Let me shock you. Import and Export declaration rightfully should begin at the doorstep of CRFFN not Custom. Quote me anywhere. As the regulatory agency, this agency is supposed to even be trade facilitation grass roots monitoring, I mean an implementation monitoring agency.
What does that imply for the process of clearing and forwarding?
As an agency that regulates logistic services, we set the standards, we even define the standard of operation and the conditions of the service that should be administered and possibly the regulation of certain charges by the service providers. We need to ensure that what you are lodging to customs meets the requisite standard. It is professional enough; you have done due diligence. So, due diligence begins at the doorstep of CRFFN. After that, the document proceeds or the transaction proceeds to the custom desk. But that is not what it is today. The other way is what is in practice. Now, we recognize this and as time goes on, God willing; we will bring this into play. Why do we need to do that? A lot of agents or freight forwarders encounter problems with SON, NAFDAC, Customs and every other clearing agency that interfaces with them after making their declarations. So, at the end, it is always landing you in penalty. And this penalty comes in huge figures. Just for minor mistakes that can easily be overlooked or rejected for a reapplication or even cancellation. But it will be capitalized on and then unnecessary charges are made, which is not supposed to be. So, by the time it begins at the doorstep of the CRFFN, all of that dirty part of the job that is done would have been cleaned up from the first point before it is transmitted to the next desk, either customs or whoever that is next and that is the essence of the National Single Window.
How do these changes relate to the implementation of the National Single Window?
It is what you submit to the National Single Window that it takes. So now, it will even be worse if the National Single Window is implemented without this cleanup. So, this cleanup has to begin at the doorstep of CRFFN and that is what we are pushing now. We will need your voice to push this with us; that clearing should begin at the doorstep of CRFFN so that arbitrary charges would end. The incessant DN that is always associated with wrong declaration, under declaration and false declaration and all of that would end. And then you will have profits at the end of your transaction.
What is your vision for the professionalization of the freight forwarding industry?
Most freight forwarders do their business, at the end of the day, you even go borrowing money to complete the transaction just because of a minor mistake that can be overlooked. This talk speaks to compliance. There is a global practice. If we are talking about trade facilitation today, we talk about compliance. Compliance with conventional rules as provided in the bilateral agreement we have with other countries. And even the multilateral agreement we enter with the World Trade Organization, World Custom Organization and the likes. We are also, in a way, not adhering to those conventions. So then, who bears the brunt is always the freight forward. So, but by the time CRFFN is put in its right place in the clearing process, all of that would be corrected and to become history. That is what we are doing with respect to that. Now, that’s partly part of the regulatory framework which we are trying to enhance, because it’s not just about training alone. We provide the standard of operation. In the past, most of us have been trained at one level or the other. But however, there is a sense of training. It is not training to earn5bv the certificates. I believe that it should be training for professionalization. At the end of the training curriculum, you should earn something like a certificate of proficiency to practice as a freight forwarder. But then, even when you earn that certificate, it should also be accompanied at your own interest that you should be licensed, whether as an individual or as a corporate entity. I want to separate these two. This has no conflict with custom license. Custom license is primarily for custom brokerage. Freight forwarding license is primarily for freight forwarding practice, including the custom broker. I want to be very clear on that. But unfortunately, the system we find ourselves in has not made it so. It looks as if what is being practiced today, the status quo is wrong. This is one of the battles we need to fight. And we all need everybody’s hands on deck in this direction so that we can be able to control the industry. Not some dick and harry that comes in within the port premises and says he or she is an agent, is a freight forwarder, is being absorbed. Who is losing? It is the practitioners because they can cause harm. At the end of the day, everybody is blamed. Meanwhile, you are exempted. They do not understand the principles and the rules. The blame that should be allocated to them is also apportioned to the practitioners. That should not be so. By the time CRFFN comes up with all the plans and programmes that we have put in order to correct some of these things, we will be able to fish out the chaff from the grains and apportion the penalty rightfully as it should be.
We are integrating; we have partially integrated our system with the system of the NPA. Because largely enough, most of what we need to enforce, we still need sister agency collaboration. Just as they need our collaboration in some of the programmes that they enforce. And that is why we have an existing understanding with NPA and the rest. And we want to also extend that to all the agencies involved in the clearing process for proper recognition of the freight forwarding community in the supply chain and the freight logistics industry at large.
How does CRFFN intend to tackle the issue of arbitrary charges of shipping lines and terminal operators?
There is no way we can mumble everything together. The circumstances surrounding the existence of CRFFN even till today have not ended. Partly, we are treading with caution. There is still going to be a time when we implement one stop center for logistics under CRFFN, I don’t think you would have any issue with any shipping line of terminal operator arbitrarily mopping charges because by that time CRFFN will have been the one dealing with them instead of the freight forwarders. This is because every one of your services will have started at our doorstep. We would be interfacing on your behalf because we can speak the language that they understand and they can speak the language that we would question, not just understand. Some of the language they speak, you might not be able to question them. So, we need to correct that and that is what we are doing at the moment. So please be patient, it requires time and it is not going to be immediate. One of the major challenges of freight forwarders is that they don’t know how to present their challenges properly. That is why we are saying they should talk to us, we understand them, while we help them present their problem effectively to the appropriate quarters.
