CRFFN Fears Customs Bill Will Sack 10,000 Freight Forwarders From Ports    

There are fears that if passed into law, the bill for the amendment of the Customs and Excise Management Act, currently being attended to at the National Assembly may  send not less than 10,000 freight forwarders away from the ports.
These fears were expressed by the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN); Sir Milke Jukwe at a public hearing held in Abuja on Monday by the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise.
Jukwe in his memorandum submitted to the committee, a copy of which was sent to Shipping Position Daily argued that, going by the provisions in the draft CEMA Bill, nearly 10,000 freight forwarders in Nigeria will be denied their sources of livelihood. He warned that this would be disastrous and it would have negative effect on Nigerian security and economy.
The CRFFN Registrar stressed that membership of the board of customs is incomplete without the inclusion of a representative of CRFFN. He argued that the complimentary role of CRFFN is needed for customs to record any success.
"Having reviewed the provisions in the draft Bill as it relates to the Customs Representative, as a segment of Freight Forwarding, we have come to the conclusion that those in the draft Bill are inconsistent with those in the existing CRFFN Act No. 16 of 2007"
"And if those provisions in the draft Bill are not amended as per the attached submission, it will infringe on the rights of nearly 10,000
Nigerian Freight Forwarders of which over 2,000 are already on the Register of Freight Forwarders"
Jukwe further demanded that a percentage of revenue collected by the customs service be given to the CRFFN to run the affairs of freight forwarders in Nigeria.
"A percentage of the revenue that the Nigeria Customs Service collects and/or a percentage of the f.o.b. value of imports and exports, said
percentage or percentages to be determined from time to time by the Minister of Finance and the Government shall be paid to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria for the regulation and control of freight forwarding operations in Nigeria"
After quoting sections of the CRFFN Act, the Registrar said:  "The draft Bill must specifically include CRFFN Valid registration certificate as one of the requirements for issuance and renewal of license by Customs to freight forwarders who are customs brokers. This can only make these Acts of the National Assembly coherent and to work hand in hand".