CUSTOMS CG SHOCKS MINISTER OF TRANSPORT OVER CRFFN:

There may be no end in sight in the frosty relationship between the Comptroller General of Customs; Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi and the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). The Customs boss told a shocked Minister of Transport; Senator Idris Umar at a recent meeting that the Nigeria Customs Service does not recognize the CRFFN.

There may be no end in sight in the frosty relationship between the Comptroller General of Customs; Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi and the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). The Customs boss told a shocked Minister of Transport; Senator Idris Umar at a recent meeting that the Nigeria Customs Service does not recognize the CRFFN.
The minister had invited the Customs Comptroller General over the stand of the Customs in the quest by CRFFN to collect transaction fees on all cargo that arrives at the country through all the entry points and issues bordering on the Customs relationship with CRFFN.
Sources at the meeting told our correspondent last week that when Dikko was asked by the Minister to justify the letter that he wrote to the Minister of Finance; Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala in which he kicked against the controversial transaction fees that was to be collected by the CRFFN, he reportedly owned up.
He however told the minister that the Customs was not comfortable with some sections of the CRFFN Act and that the Nigeria Customs Service already has a relationship with the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents.
Our correspondent was told by a senior official of the ministry of transport who was also at the meeting that it was at that point that he told the minister that the Nigeria Customs Service does not recognize the CRFFN, but the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents.
But the minister stood his ground over the right of CRFFN as enshrined in its Act and that the Customs has no choice than to co-exist with the freight forwarders’ supervisory council.
He also mandated a committee to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Justice for the proper interpretation of all the subsisting laws, vis avis the CRFFN and its quest to collect the transaction fees.
The committee, whose members could not be confirmed as at press time is expected to guide the minister in the move to put the CRFFN back on track.
Our correspondent confirmed last week that it is the report of the fact-finding committee that is delaying the take-off of the interim governing council which the minister had announced for the  CRFFN.