“I Disagree With You; I Am President To Both License Customs Agent And Non- License Customs Agents”……Nweke
“There are so many people inside the ports today who are neither ANLCA nor NAGAFF”……Shittu
“Everyone Thinks Freight Forwarding Ends With Customs License, But Its More Than That”…….Nweke
By virtue of being presidents of their respective associations, the paths of both Prince Olayiwola Shittu of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and Mr Eugene Nweke of National Association Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) must always cross. The two associations didn’t have a particularly rosy relationship, that was, prior to the emergence of the duo as presidents of the two associations. It is now very clear that both Prince Shittu and Mr Nweke are determined to forge a new vista of collaboration between the two associations as this interview will reveal. By the way, the duo had no objections to the suggestion that they should jointly appear as my guests for this week, in fact, the duo exhibited maturity and mutual respect for each other. The interview took place during the last Id-El Fitri holidays and it was very revealing. We serve you the first of a two-part; first-of-its-kind interview. I also want to register my deep appreciation to these two gentlemen for their commitment, doggedness and sincerity in the quest to engender a new freight forwarding practice in Nigeria.
Is there any difference between freight forwarding and customs license?
Shittu: Customs license procedure and processes are part of freight forwarding because freight forwarding is a logistic chain from beginning to the end, there are the complete logistic companies that are foreign based because I discover that Nigerians don’t have enough capacity to fully absolve the freight forwarding chain, but we have to start from somewhere and that is why we all accepted and agreed that the CRFFN Act will help us to create; not only, customs license agent but with transport and other logistics and maybe eventually Nigeria will get a chain which is freight forwarding and so be counted among the comity of nations. That is what I think it is, but over time we have all been focusing on license customs procedures, clearing of goods and so on, sooner than later there is going to be a meeting point between clearing and forwarding as it is in the CEMA and freight forwarding as it is in the CRFFN, they complement each other and they are not against each other.
Nweke: He said it from the right perspective and as I always say, when you say you are a licensed customs person, it means you are a customs broker which is an integral part of the freight forwarding chain, even in FIATA there was a time they defined freight forwarding to be end services related to warehousing, storage, handling of cargo and so on, but later in 2005, they redefined it to mean that body or individual who ensures that international trade goods move from port of origin to destination; ensuring that the cargo arrives at safely and in good condition and at no extra cost. To do this, that person must have the required logistics knowledge , knowing which transport infrastructure is available looking at the nature of the cargo, then the person must have expertise in what we call payment and financing, he must know bank and finance and who to pay to, he must have the experience of what we call cross functional integration, that is to say, he must know when to relate with who because in Nigeria for instance we have so many agencies and so he must relate with them, so the freight forwarder is this person who has an overall knowledge, a freight forwarder can be a license broker if he so decides.
In other words, you both agree that a freight forwarder can be a licensed customs agent?
Shittu: The only difference which we are having here is that, while ANLCA is association of licensed customs agents and knowing fully well that CEMA recognizes companies and not individuals, CRFFN makes emphasis on the persons that are practicing. And like I told you, we have a meeting point where these companies will even have a pool of resources from individuals that have been trained, I am talking about freight forwarding of the future; not even now, because until the CEMA and the CRFFN have a meeting point, we will still have that segregation between licensed companies and the individuals, you also know that there is no operation you want to carry out in the ports whether with shipping companies, terminal operators or customs, that will not require that you must still produce your companies as evidence, but what freight forwarding is doing internationally is just like you being an engineer, your training will be first and foremost as a person, so be a freight forwarder before you can now work with companies, in terminals or anywhere that has to do with the movement of cargo, that is the intendment.
Nweke: I have been in the industry and I do know that it is section 153 and 154 of CEMA that gives customs the power to license. Even in the absence of a regulating council of freight forwarding, clearing and forwarding has been there from inception, but in reality this does not qualify it as a noble profession like freight forwarding and that is why NAGAFF came on board and we championed the course of trying to ensure that we put in place a professional freight forwarding practice in Nigeria. From what he has said, CEMA is there quite alright, but there is a section of the CRFFN Act that says that any agency of government in charge of the issuance of license should before issuing or renewing get clearance from the Council, for instance NPA has a permit, for you to go into the port those days you need a permit.
Why is it that your association (NAGAFF) seems not to agree with the CRFFN in terms of its regulatory functions?
Nweke: NAGAFF is only trying to join the Central Working Committee of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria to say that there are some fundamental flaws in the Council’s Act which some of us have gone round to say that any Act that has been assented to, has five years for amendment to take place, and we are saying that if the minister will play his role, then he should talk to these people to let us forge ahead.
There seems to be an overwhelming presence of ANLCA members in the governing council of CRFFN?
Shittu: It is just coincidental, and I will like to tell you that no association sponsored anybody for elections into the council. In fact, when Shippers’ Council was midwifing the electoral process, they made it known to everybody that if you wish to vote or be voted for, then you need to apply, some of us didn’t apply to be voted for, we only applied because we heard that they were doing registration and a lot of people were even short-changed because they didn’t even know, the thing was done at a very short period and so people went on their own merit, but what gave ANLCA the advantage was because there was emphasis on the presentation of customs license, presentation of registration documents which they listed, and of course you know ANLCA is the oldest association and majority of the people in other associations had been members of ANLCA. I can also tell you that both Lucky Amiwero and Dr. Aniebonam also presented their licenses and that is why they were eligible to vote and be voted for, But if they had gone into the CRFFN Act for the coming elections to be on the same yardstick with the one they did before, there will be no noise because the people went there on their own merit and the merit. But eventually over time, that line that is drawn in-between the specialty of associations will fall, I am telling you there are so many specialties in the freight forwarding industry, we’ve mentioned the warehousing, transportation, customs procedures, ship chandelling and so on, I look forward to a Nigeria of the future where one company can just be doing all; like the Panalpinas, SDVs and other foreign companies and even those we call our partners abroad, in their simple office they do everything, but in Nigeria, we are just beginning to grow, I just pray that eventually we will get there because what we are used to is licensed customs agent, even if you see somebody in NAGAFF today, he will not introduce himself otherwise but as a licensed customs agent because that is what the public knows until the publicity that an individual can be a professional as a freight forwarder, not necessarily because you work for a company that has a license.
That means you don’t need to have a customs license in order to be a member of CRFFN?
Shittu: Of course yes, I have said it several times and I say again that freight forwarding goes beyond customs procedure
Nweke: We are actually looking forward to a situation as time goes on that if you are asked what your profession is, you will say you are a freight forwarder and not just a license customs agent.
Some have said that almost 100 percent of the so- called freight forwarders are licensed customs agent?
Nweke: I disagree with you, in NAGAFF, it is a learn- on- the- job- and –pass- it- on thing, there is one thing every freight forwarder enjoys today and that is why to an extent, you see Dr. Aniebonam saying that whether you like it or not he is still a member of ANLCA, because that was the existing forum where everyone was used to before coming to say he is a freight forwarder. But what we are trying to say today is that it goes beyond learning this job from somebody who owns a license, we are now saying that time has come and when we all go back to acquire one skill or the other in the four walls of the class room, then we can come out and measure up or specialize in an area so that each time we talk about freight forwarding, we will not only be thinking about customs license which is an integral part of it, very soon the council will made it very clear that if you are a broker with customs, then you remain as such, but if you are into warehousing you remain there. But because of the old tradition and practice, it appears myopic because everybody thinks freight forwarding ends with customs license, but its more than that.
Shittu: Because what freight forwarding is in some clients abroad is what clearing and forwarding use to be for Nigeria, if you go on the internet you will see that we still have clearing and forwarding in India and they have freight forwarding going side by side, in America they call them custom brokers, they are just a specialized unit of freight forwarding logistics, you can decide to just be a custom broker and you remain a custom broker, but by the time you are stepping into transportation, warehousing and the whole logistic chain, then you are no more restricted to customs brokerage, but rather you will be working hand in hand, when it comes to the issue of customs you will refer to customs brokerage, if you go on internet you will see their names, address, companies and the individual freight forwarders have their own. Eventually, we will get there, but we are mixing it up and that has created a lot of division when somebody will tell you that he is a license customs agent and not a freight forwarder.
Eugene: It is possible tomorrow that we have shipping agent association and a president will emerge, those who specialize in arranging documents for shipping, they can have their association, but is there anything wrong in that?
Why is it so difficult for Nigerian freight forwarders to specialize?
Nweke: This is because there has been a vacuum and this vacuum is what the CRFFN is meant to fill.
Shittu: It is because we are not being directed properly, our orientation is that we are used to the system and so we must continue with it, nobody thinks of the future of this profession, many people just think of making money out of the port alone. Why is it that even among licensed customs agents, many people don’t want their children to inherit their company and do the same job? It is because they don’t have confidence in it; unlike our former president Mr Peter Okocha, I was very happy when his son came back from Harvard and said he is going into clearing because that is the job with which he was trained, you can see they are beginning to look at it that what is obtainable abroad can be transported here and it will help all of us.
What informed your decision to accept to be a part of this joint interview?
Nweke: In NAGAFF, from inception we have always believed in the principles of responsive partnership, we have always believed in strategic alliance, we have always believed in collaboration, our believe in this is that we will collaborate and align and partner together to achieve more, and that is why if you look at NAGAFF’s concept, it is premised on dialogue, communication and cross-fertilisation of ideas, so in the past, its like we have a force in the middle that always push NAGAFF away and push ANLCA away and hence the vacuum in the middle, I call it divide and rule, but today there is need to work together, because collectively we will achieve more, so why shouldn’t we collaborate, dialogue and consult if at all we believe in the profession. Like I always say, anybody who finds himself in the maritime sector of our economy if you don’t have cargo interest there is no need to be there, be you a bank, port authority, terminal operator or an agency of government, if you are here it is because the Nigerian government have accepted that cargo is an instrument of peace and therefore you must come to protect the interest.
Shittu: I have a father, whom I gained a lot from and who said if you can not play with your children, then go to heaven and play with your mates, NAGAFF is an offshoot of ANLCA and if you remove the political interest and the rigmarole, we all are the same. If those issues that created NAGAFF are out of it by now all of us could have been ANLCA members, and I bet you that when I discovered that the new leadership of NAGAFF does not have this personal troubles, because there are troubles that you personalize and there are troubles that are based on ideology, and if we all say that we are representing the interest of our followers and we are thinking alike, then why can’t we sit down together with the president of NAGAFF and sort out things that could even make us avoid larger problems. At the level that we are, we have been collaborating but it’s not easy to translate it to the lower level and that is why you can see little skirmishes, but we can tell you that our collaboration is yielding results and that is why there are fewer skirmishes all over the place. So there is nothing wrong, all I know is I am the president of licensed customs agents and he is the president of non- license customs agents, what you need to understand by this is that we work in companies that are licensed, they are creating a pool of workers in the freight forwarding industry that will specialize in the job we are doing which means in the future, the company I established that has a license may not employ anybody who is not a freight forwarder and that’s why I say we will meet at a point.
Nweke: This is where I disagree with you; I am president to both license customs agent and non- license customs agents, in my association, I can boast of at least 100 licenses. For sure, ANLCA has existed before NAGAFF and it is by God’s design and intervention that new associations should come up and I tell you that the coming on board of NAGAFF actually contributed immensely towards ANLCA’s repositioning, if NAGAFF had not come on board, the system would have remained static but as soon as we came on board with one vision, ANLCA had to wake up from its slumber.
It is the CRFFN that binds the two of you together, as NAGAFF president are you satisfied with the way the Council has been operating so far?
Nweke: Let me first and foremost appreciate the Registrar of the Council who has actually shown that he has the capacity to run the Council, there is no system that is perfect and I believe in every profession where we want to bring in a standard there are bound to be teething problems which is what the council is undergoing at the moment. As for them joining us together, that is what they should do because freight forwarding is all encompassing; so all of us coming together equals one, it is only the council that has the powers to reform the freight forwarding profession, both NAGAFF, ANLCA or any other association that may come on board tomorrow must fall within the control of the CRFFN.
Shittu: Except maybe in the nearest future, we are going to take it beyond the realm of just being one of the chain in the industry, this specialty must be backed with proper training, proper understanding of the policies of government and the tariff so that you can even be satisfied with just being a customs agent, earn your living and move on.
Nweke: You don’t need to take it further because when the council goes through your submissions during the verification, they will see where you measured best and send you back to go and acquire a professional skill as an individual. If you go as a custom broker that means you must know the tariffs, you must know the Nigerian tariff, you must also understand the international currencies, these are things that you will be thought when you go for the course under custom brokerage, so it is the council that should do that.
Shittu: We are not disagreeing, but people who go to the ports and want to be freight forwarders should also try to specialize, which is to find an area where you can be good at and do it well, today we are doing registration with CRFFN but neither me nor him can vouch for the number of people who have gone there to register because we don’t know them, they registered as individuals, but then how are we sure that majority of these people are the ones who don’t have anything to do with the ports, it is our duty to make sure that we don’t bring all these questionable people back again into the ports where we are already having problems. I tell you, there are so many people inside the ports today who are neither ANLCA or NAGAFF, they are just there floating, they don’t want to be under any stringent rules or regulations they just want to go to the port, they are the people that importers fall victims of and they just give all of us a bad name, so if we are concerned about sanitizing the operations in the port, those amongst us who have decided compulsorily to be members of CRFFN must be ready to follow the rules and regulations.
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