The International Freight Forwarding Association (IFFA) has faulted the Act which established the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN) saying the council should register individual practitioners and not associations.
The Apapa chapter chairman of IFFA; Osita Chukwu, who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Apapa also explained that one of the reasons IFFA is yet to be registered by the council is because they are kicking against the registration of associations instead of individuals.
He explained that individuals should be registered directly by the council in other to get rid of unqualified persons in the sector, adding that the idea is against the Act that established the council.
“I don’t even support any association to be registered under CRFFN, we are all practitioners and we have our licenses and since we are practitioners, you should be registered under your own association, associations should not be registered under CRFFN. Even the Act has made it clear, we have been saying that CRFFN is a governing council by which every member should come and register on his/her own and become automatic member of CRFFN. So asking associations to come and register is encumbering the Act by which the council is set up”.
Chukwu however explained that the act of registering associations instead of individuals is a strategy devised by the council to extort money from people and also disenfranchising some qualified persons from participating in the affairs of the council.
“Because when you register association, anybody that is under that association is as good as registered and it will give room for non qualified members to come on board. They will have what we call monopoly to other people who might be good practitioners but don’t have the capacity under associations”, he argued.
He charged the CRFFN governing council to go back to the drawing board and revisit the act.
“CRFFN should go back to the drawing board, the minister of transport or whoever established the council should go back to the drawing board, I think there should be a total overhaul of the council and general revisitation on the platform while the CRFFN will be registering associations and not practitioners” he concluded.
