“Give just one percent of the revenue by Customs to freight forwarders, there is no way they will connive with any importer to cheat the government”
Mr Francis Omotosho is the Registrar, NAGAFF Academy. In this interview with Joshua Yousouph, he talks about freight forwarders’ training and certification. He also talks about the CRFFN and the Nigeria Customs Service.
With less than a month to the end of the year, what’s your assessment of the Maritime industry, so far this year?
The Nigerian maritime industry for the very first time, I see a little bit of drift in the right direction. What I mean is that the man and the helm of affairs of the apex regulatory agency, which is NIMASA has done very well. He has piloted the industry to some extent at the right direction. I believe any other person coming to head that apex body after his tenure needs to work hard to meet up and follow the pace of his predecessor. Looking at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the man that was there before worked so hard and tried his best to put the Council in the right perspective. But the new man at the helms of affairs is still learning the ropes. The difference between Shippers’ Council and NIMASA is that the man that heads NIMASA was formerly a Director and practitioner in the system. So, he knows where the shoe pinches. But the man at Shippers Council was brought from outside. So he is still learning the rudiments of the maritime industry. I have not seen any targeted shot in his administration. That does not mean that he is not trying, but we cannot compare him with someone who has been in the system. NIWA is also trying with a lot of innovations. The area that we really need to work hard is the Railway. Railway is far behind. But unfortunately the government has put in so much money into that agency (Nigerian Railway Corporation) but there are not really working towards the expectation of the citizens. Railway is the cheapest mode of transportation and by now citizens should have started feeling the impact of railway transportation. They are not doing much, they are just operating on the existing routes and rail tracks. They need to establish new routes to serve the masses. The rail should hopefully come to limelight next year. The government needs to look into the maritime industry next year for the government to survive and the country to thrive.
How would you access the activities of CRFFN particularly on the training of freight forwarders under the current governing council?
I am a forwarder and all the money I have made in my entire lifetime is from freight forwarding. It is better to say the truth so that we can move forward. The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has been hijacked by those who don’t even understand the very reason of the existence of that council. That council was set up to harmonise forwarders who are the major stakeholders in the maritime sector. They handle every movement of goods. The CRFFN is expected to organise, train, respect and give them value, then they will see results. The Council is not going in that direction. Rather, the highest bidder wins the Chair. What I feel they should focus more is not just training. They must look for how to add value to the life of forwarders. After training, they give them certificates, then what next? Other professions have their ‘number one General’ and there is a Chair and Table for that General leading that profession in the circle of the government. Freight forwarders need someone at the front in the government circle who is in charge of that business and profession. With that, you will give them value for their profession. How much is a qualified freight forwarder paid if employed? However, the Accountant General knows the value of their contributions to the country in terms of the wages and salaries of accountants. This also applies to Teachers, Engineers and other professions. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is just like CRFFN. CRFFN just organizes training within two days, issues certificates and there’s no value to show for that certificate. That is why people don’t reckon with that profession. When you train people, what is the relevance of the certificate in the labour market? Are they senior or junior management level and what is the least of salary or entitlement they can get? But CRFFN is not doing that. What has the CRFFN Registrar done to the people he claims he is registering? We still have a long way to go. If COREN can standardise Engineering and Engineers’ status in terms of their entitlements and renumeration, CRFFN by now should have recorded at least a minimum number of people that have joined private of public organisations with the certificate of CRFFN at a level. There should be a status given to you to commensurate with the knowledge you have acquired.
The NAGAFF Academy seems not to be getting enough patronage from the industry particularly from sister associations?
It is just simple. It is because they are waiting for us to get our government accreditation and certification which we are working towards. We have got a letter and we are going to make a payment for the inspection. The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) are coming for inspection. But we have passed the first stage. We have done the Curriculum and have set the standard for freight forwarding education in Nigeria at National Diploma level. That Curriculum is meant for everybody who wants to start freight forwarding in Nigeria. The NAGAFF Academy has done that. So we are in the second stage of accreditation that is the inspection of our facilities such as the classrooms, chairs, library, computer room and all the rest. We are putting that in place.
Many forwarders don’t know what they are doing. What is the value of the certificate CRFFN is issuing to them? We are spending two years while CRFFN is spending two days. The Standard of NAGAFF Academy is high. Our students are doing their attachment at NACHO, SAHCO and other private businesses and they see their worth and competencies. Our first set has just come for the attachment for one year. We know what we are doing and we are moving forward. The moment everything is on ground and set they will verify and give us accreditation. You cannot get any certified freight forwarder in Nigeria other than in NAGAFF. We are all practitioners. The lecturers are practitioners; fully preaching what they know in the classroom. So you can’t get anything better than the NAGAFF Academy. So we are at the last lap of accreditation and before the year runs out or first quarter of next year, the NBTE will come for inspection and we would keep running. Unfortunately many freight forwarders don’t understand what certification means. The Certificate is just an A4 paper but the major thing is acquiring the knowledge. At the NAGAFF Academy we would give you both the certificate and the necessary knowledge. With our accreditation, that will separate the boys from the men.
What’s the total number of students the academy has graduated this year?
We have the third set on the line now. The first set are about 30, which was last year. The second set will be finishing this December. They are writing their fourth voyage exam. The third set are in their first year and would be moving to second year by next semester; by next year January. We are not in haste. The most important thing is for us to impact in them the real and adequate knowledge to man the business of freight forwarding; whether in the public or private sector. With the backing of the accreditation of NBTE, the Certificate from NAGAFF has more value than the CRFFN certificate. This is because NBTE already has a level of status of certification of National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND). The essence of our certification is to be able to place our certificate in the labour market. We are working hard together to ensure that we give a certification that everywhere you go with a National Diploma in Freight Forwarding and Supply Chain Management, the status is already clear.
Do you subscribe to CRFFN headquarters being moved to Abuja?
What is the meaning of headquarters of a freight forwarding body? FIATA has one headquarter with only five people working there in Switzerland. The five people are the ones managing the entire federation of associations of forwarders in the whole world. Nigerian freight forwarders are not up to 5000 and the number of CRFFN staff all over is close to 5000. Then what are we talking about? We have over 120 countries under FIATA and only five people are coordinating them. The CRFFN is just having offices here and there in order to just spend money anyhow. We don’t need all that. What is the meaning of headquarters in Abuja? You are taking it to Lekki or Victoria Island. It is just a waste of time and they don’t understand what they are doing. For the governing council members to be fighting and arguing over the movement of the CRFFN headquarters is all because of money. They don’t need all those to operate as a Council. If CRFFN has a 10-storey building headquarters, of what use is it? They are supposed to use that money to put up structures for training of freight forwarders in order to make their certification in freight forwarding, even higher than a PhD. If they can do this, then people will take them serious. People are only interested in training and certification that will bring value to them. Even the children of many of the Council members are not into freight forwarding, but they are in other professions. The Council members who are privileged to be amongst the first set of leadership of freight forwarding are doing anyhow, just because they want to embezzle money. They are just wasting their time and posterity will judge all of them.
Freight forwarders have been pushing for their representation on the board of the Nigeria Customs Service. What’s your take on this?
The Customs are in the governing board of CRFFN. There’s nothing wrong if freight forwarders are also part of the governing board of the Customs. This is because it takes two to tango. Customs is just a unit or component of what freight forwarding stands for. They are an essential component of freight forwarding because the cargo will first move into Customs control and we still have to move the cargo outside Customs control. We need to know more about them, what they want and satisfy them before they release the cargo and we would still continue moving the cargo. It is high time the Customs reasoned. Most of the Customs officers are just trained on how to collect tax for the government. There’s nothing wrong for them to collect the fair share of the revenue for the government. But there is something wrong if the Customs are not abreast of the latest developments in cargo movement. There are lots of things in the Customs formation that must be in tandem with the smooth flow of cargo in the supply chain. If freight forwarders are in the Customs board, they will be able to make contributions. For instance, the freight forwarder would be the best person to advice the Custom on how best to collect the fair share of the government from importers. Government giving Customs revenue target is actually a bad advice. There are three parties involved, which includes the Customs, freight forwarders and importers. Only the Customs are receiving salary and also collecting percentage from the target given to them by the government. That is not the way to go. There is nobody that is practicing that formula in the whole world. If government knows what they are doing, they will stop that programme, because it is destroying the country. If they give just one percent of the revenue by Customs to freight forwarders, there is no way they will connive with any importer to cheat the government. That is a legal and legitimate way of making money and the government will still get their revenue. Customs is collecting more than 10 percent but none is given to freight forwarders.
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