The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has called for the collaboration of security agencies to expel touts from the country's ports.
The Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe, made the call yesterday in Abuja when he visited Mr. Sadiq Yusuf, the Divisional Police Officer, Nnamdi Azikiwe Police Airport Command, Abuja in continuation of the Council's sensitization visit to entry points in Nigeria to sensitize stakeholders on the enforcement of its guidelines.
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has called for the collaboration of security agencies to expel touts from the country's ports.
The Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe, made the call yesterday in Abuja when he visited Mr. Sadiq Yusuf, the Divisional Police Officer, Nnamdi Azikiwe Police Airport Command, Abuja in continuation of the Council's sensitization visit to entry points in Nigeria to sensitize stakeholders on the enforcement of its guidelines.
He said that the touts, who parade themselves as freight forwarders, should be expelled.
Jukwe, who was accompanied on the visit by some officials of the council, said the council needed police assistance in ensuring that only its members operated at the sea ports, cargo airports and land border stations.
The CRFFN began the sensitization and enforcement of its operations at the ports on August 1, 2013.
The council, which plans to start raiding the ports any moment from now, has given one month's grace to genuine freight forwarders to register.
Jukwe recalled that the Federal Government, through the National Assembly, passed a law in 2007 mandating theCRFFN to regulate and control freight forwarding in the country.
He said that since the council was inaugurated in 2008, it had been keeping a register of its members in line with its mandate.
Jukwe said the council had also accredited courses of some training institutions offering such courses.
“Having done all these, our next line of action is to enforce the law establishing the council, to ensure that only those who are registered in accordance with the provision of the Act 16, 2007, are allowed to clear cargo in the ports.
The Registrar told the DPO that the council’s enforcement team was not made up of law enforcement agents, because “it is your duty as police officers to arrest and persecute offenders’’.
“It is our own duty to differentiate between the registered forwarders and those who parade there as touts in order to defraud Nigerians,’’ he said.
Jukwe appealed to the DPO to assist the council’s enforcement team by assigning police officers to it “anytime it comes to raid the ports’’.
Responding, Yusuf condemned the activities of fake forwarders, saying that many people in the past had lost their cargoes in the hands of such dupes.
“When you get to the Lagos airport you will see more than 2,000 people, who claim to be freight forwarders, loitering around,’’ he said.
Yusuf, however, promised to give the council maximum cooperation to enable it achieve its mandate.
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