Even as industry stakeholders continue to battle for the soul of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) the Save Nigeria Importers, Exporters and Freight Forwarders Coalition (SNIEFFC) has predicted that the Council is on the brink of collapse.
Coordinator of the group, Chief Osita Chukwu in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos on Monday pointed out the Federal Government must allocate subvention to the Council for it to continue to exist.
Even as industry stakeholders continue to battle for the soul of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) the Save Nigeria Importers, Exporters and Freight Forwarders Coalition (SNIEFFC) has predicted that the Council is on the brink of collapse.
Coordinator of the group, Chief Osita Chukwu in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos on Monday pointed out the Federal Government must allocate subvention to the Council for it to continue to exist.
He said that the CRFFN may be scrapped any moment from now, because it has failed to meet the purpose for which it was established.
Osita lambasted the Federal Ministry of Transport for allegedly failing to carry out proper monitoring of the Council and for allegedly also failing to give it a chance to survive just other parastatals under it.
Making a case for funding of the council, he said; "The Federal Government should take a bold step and create room for CRFFN to have a little percentage of subvention to enable them carry on, because I believe that money is the problem"
"If you create a parastatal under a ministry and you cannot empower it, the bottom line is that it will collapse and the CRFFN is at a collapse stage right now, it will soon be scrapped, because it has never met the purpose for which it was established".
The SNIEFFC Coordinator also noted that the Maritime Advocacy and Action Group (MAAG) was borne out of the failure of the CRFFN to live up to stakeholders’expectations.
He said MAAG is currently helping CRFFN because it is seeking to bring recognition to the freight forwarding industry from the government by making every association speak in one voice, as well as to install sanity in the industry.
"Government should enshrine CRFFN just like other parastatals under the ministry of transport, I wonder why the ministry is shying away from their paramount responsibility as to the funding of CRFFN, just like NIMASA, Shippers’Council and NIWA"
"These people are money collectors, but the freight forwarders generate money into government coffers by facilitating revenue collection, what is good for the goose is good for the gander" he argued.
Osita expressed optimism that once the council has been allocated funds, it will have good administration that will develop human resources in freight forwarders.
"But if you don't do it this way, the collapse is coming" he predicted.
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