The recent enforcement drive of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) may have been lost on northerner practitioners as indications have emerged that there are many Northern freight forwarders who are still operating under the radar.
This fact came to fore last weekend at the extra ordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) which held in Festac Town, Lagos.
The recent enforcement drive of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) may have been lost on northerner practitioners as indications have emerged that there are many Northern freight forwarders who are still operating under the radar.
This fact came to fore last weekend at the extra ordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) which held in Festac Town, Lagos.
While fielding questions from journalist at the event, President of NAGAFF, Chief Eugene Nweke said that the association had used the meeting to enlighten its members at the north, especially in Katsina State and surrounding border towns.
"We want to ensure that the CRFFN goes there to do their training, this is one of the arrangements"
While speaking at the meeting earlier with Shipping Position Daily, the Kongolom Maiadua Border Chairman of NAGAFF in Katsina State, Ibrahim Shahada confirmed that many northerners are practicing illegally.
According to him, "Northerners are fully involved in freight forwarding business even before NAGAFF came to Katsina, the only thing is that we were doing it illegally, we are doing it beyond the border"
"When NAGAFF came to Katsina State, they opened our eyes and we do the right things, now we are following the rules and regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Customs, we pay duty and do whatever is responsible to get your product into Nigeria instead of coming through the wrong doors" he said.
He however said that he is not yet aware of the existence of the CRFFN and that he is just hearing it for the first time.
Speaking further, he said: "I don't have CRFFN number or ID card, I only have NAGAFF identity card"
The NAGAFF President used the meeting to inform members of the newly revived CRFFN, even as he cautioned that anyone found to be engaged in illegality will be de-registered and subsequently prosecuted.
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