The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has pledged transparency in the payment of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) to accredited associations and Freight Forwarders operating in the nation’s maritime industry
The Council met with executives and members of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) on Monday to address concerns regarding outstanding POF payments, professional development opportunities and critical issues within the freight forwarding sector.
The acting Registrar of the Council Mrs Chinyere Uromta in her address, expressed gratitude for NAGAFF’s consistent support, particularly in areas such as membership registration and POF collection.
She emphasized the pivotal role of freight forwarders in national growth and called for continued collaboration with government initiatives.
Highlighting CRFFN’s commitment to professionalizing the sector through education and training, Uromta detailed partnerships with institutions like the University of Lagos. This is even as she encouraged members to seize these opportunities for ongoing professional development.
Acknowledging the backlog of POF remittances, Uromta attributed the delay to the initial account number issues and unforeseen challenges.
She assured NAGAFF members that efforts are underway to resolve these issues and commence payments of all outstanding fees promptly.
Uromta emphasized the value of these funds for training initiatives while soughting NAGAFF’s cooperation in membership registration for continuous training.
NAGAFF members, in response, expressed concerns about the high fees for the executive training programmes and suggested a review.
The National Public Relations Officer of the association Chief Clement Omenma Iwegbuna, requested a review of the high executive training programme fee and suggested payment options in installments.
Other concerns raised by members of NAGAFF included perceived inactivity by CRFFN, lack of feedback on inquiries, the location of the NIFF building outside Lagos, and the need for more practical, profession-specific training
Some of the members expressed dissatisfaction questioning the efficacy of CRFFN while also expressing disappointment in the non-functional state of the council’s website.
NAGAFF members urged CRFFN to prioritize feedback, emphasizing effective communication.
The Deputy National President (Seaport) NAGAFF, Afam Chukwuma seeks creation of a special committee on consultation to enhance revenue generation for CRFFN.
He further underscored the association’s commitment to CRFFN’s success, emphasizing the need to address practitioners operating without payment.
Speaking also the National Secretary of the association Igwe Kingsley, urged the council to organise free training for members of the association. He asked that the freight forwarders be trained on things that are related to their profession and not just academics. He said this will attract attention to the council.
He also lamented that the CRFFN website has not been functioning. He said ” i got disappointed when I go to the website of CRFFN, the website has been abandoned for years in fact we still have the picture of the former registrar on the website, it shows CRFFN as a regulatory body is not professional in this sense.
” You need to employ professional handlers to handle websites,” he said.
Responding to concerns about the outdated website, the acting Registrar acknowledged the need for improvement and promised to employ professional website handlers.
On his part, the Deputy National President NAGAFF (Headquarters) Mr Simeon Nwonu urged the Registrar to always seek advice particularly from the founder of the association Dr. Boniface Aniebonam whom he said will be willing to help the Council.
