The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) has taken its enforcement campaign to the East, particularly to Onne Port in Rivers State.
The CRFFN Director of Enforcement, Mr. Basil Okpara assisted by the Eastern Zonal coordinator, Mr. Ben Ojumah undertook a tour of the eastern zone offices of its registered associations; the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) last week.
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) has taken its enforcement campaign to the East, particularly to Onne Port in Rivers State.
The CRFFN Director of Enforcement, Mr. Basil Okpara assisted by the Eastern Zonal coordinator, Mr. Ben Ojumah undertook a tour of the eastern zone offices of its registered associations; the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) last week.
At each of the visit to the different associations’ secretariats, Dr. Basil Opara enlightened them that it is criminal not to be registered with the CRFFN and that the unregistered practitioners would no longer be allowed at the port any longer. According to him, criminals and quacks would henceforth be prosecuted.
Apart from regularizing their membership of the council, Opara also stressed the need for the association executives to upgrade their certificates because most of them are just secondary school certificate holders.
The associations also used the opportunity to table their bottled-up grievances to the council, some of which includes the non-availability of I.D cards and certificates for the forwarders in the Eastern port to work with, compared with their counterparts in Lagos.
They called the attention of the CRFFN team to the exorbitant cost of registration into the council which according to them, “should be looked into critically because many young and new forwarders are limited financially”.
The Zonal Coordinator of AREFFN, Mr. Okafor Ajike also lamented the alleged malpractices going on at the Onne port where ANLCA and NAGAFF have allegedly collaborated with West African Container Terminal (WACT) to collect practicing fees which they keep to themselves.
He lamented that the practice, “is still in operation till date”, even as he urged CRFFN to use its powers to stop the practice.
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