Recently inaugurated Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is seeking collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service to achieve a sustainable capacity development framework for Nigerians to participate meaningfully and actively in freight forwarding practice and also ensure seamless trade facilitation.
Chairman of the Council, Honourable Tony Nwabunike made this appeal in Abuja last week when he led the Council members on a working-visit to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Hamman Bello Ahmed in Abuja.
According to him, the recent inauguration of the Council by the then- Minister of State for water transportation, Prince Okechukwu Emeka has paved the way for the sanitization of freight forwarding practice in Nigeria.
He assured that with the new law which created the Council, it will now be easier to check activities of “wharf fats” which had given the impression that freight forwarding profession is a business for all. Stressing that the Council is committed to smooth, efficient and transparent practice in freight forwarding, the chairman advocated for a common protocol for the processes governing custom brokerage which is an integral part of freight forwarding.
Responding, the Customs Comptroller General agreed on the need to work together with the council, even as he expressed happiness that Nigeria Customs Service is represented on the board of the Council and expressed the need to develop a multi-modal means of transporting goods from one location to another.
He assured that the Customs hierarchy was working assiduously so as to ensure that clearance of goods is done within 48 hours and thereby discouraging usage of neighbouring countries ports in line with the government desire.
Alhaji Ahmed who was represented by one of his deputies Comptroller General, Dr. Bernard-Shaw Nwadialor also solicited for the cooperation of all in the maritime industry as “no one group should see itself as most important. He also enjoined the Council to stick to its statutory functions despite seeming overlaps and stressed the need for inter agency cooperation.
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