After it appointed a registrar, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) commenced sensitisation of its members and that took place in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt, respectively.
After that it went on a long break again, only to emerge to commence registration of freight forwarders, freight forwarding associations and freight forwarding companies.
We recall that at the Lagos leg of the nationwide sensitisation programme, the Council’s Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe had unfolded what he called a 10-point agenda for the Council. Part of the agenda, according to him, is to register individual and corporate freight forwarders, set eligibility criteria for freight forwarders, recognize and issue operations guidelines to association of freight forwarders based on certain yardsticks. The Registrar also promised to maintain a register which will contain names of all those who are entitled to practice as registered freight forwarder and who are qualified to use the title ‘RFF’.
Since that event which was also used to unveil Jukwe to the freight forwarding family as the new registrar, a lot of activities (all pointing to a new vista in the life of the young Council) have taken place.
Arguably, the most fundamental achievement of the Mr Tony Nwabunike-led CRFFN is the recent announcement that the Council had concluded its registration exercise and received applications from individuals, corporate organisations and associations for registration into different categories of membership.
At first, the impression that the announcement gave was that all the companies, associations and individuals whose applications were received had scaled through the hurdles of registration. However, CRFFN appears caused a stir when it disclosed that it would commence verification of all the claims of all the provisional registrations.
Since this intention was made public, the relative peace that had existed between the fold of freight forwarders appear to have been eroded as allegedly pre-mediated and self-serving opposition reared its head. This opposition is been spearheaded by the Central Working Committee of Freight Forwarders (CRFFN).
The group (even though unregistered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and which predates the CRFFN is an amalgamation of freight forwarding associations and interests. Its emergence is traceable to the realisation by freight forwarders (or licensed customs agents) of the need to form a common front when matters concerning them come up.
Apart from the CWCFFN, there is also the Joint Action Committee of Freight Forwarders (JACOFF); a task force-like creation which also plays a role in the self-imposed responsibility of protecting the interests of Nigerian freight forwarders.
This newspaper has had reasons to raise alarm over the complete domination of the Council’s governing board by members of ANLCA. It has also had reasons to caution against misunderstanding its core functions when it said last year that it was interested in establishing a Nigerian Institute of Freight Forwarding.
With due respect to pioneer members of the governing board, we think that the Council only started getting its bearing right after the appointment of a registrar/chief executive officer. Prior to this time and largely because of the one-sided nature of the leadership of the Council (which excluded others and made it seem like an extension of ANLCA), it was difficult to get everyone on board. The Mr Tony Nwabunike- led governing board had difficulties in ‘selling’ CRFFN as a body that was created for freight forwarders and not for either licensed customs agents alone or worse still, for ANLCA members.
We had expressed doubt that a governing board of CRFFN which excludes the likes of the Dr Boniface Aniebonam-led NAGAFF, the Dr Zebulon Ikokide –led Institute of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (IFFN) and the Mr Lucky Amiwero-led National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents can keep its head above water for long.
If a registrar had not been appointed, perhaps the Council would still be grappling with the challenges of credibility, relevance, acceptance and pursuit of its mandate.
We have said it repeatedly that certainly, the intendment of the Act which established the Council can not be to create an appendage for ANLCA, but to create an all-inclusive freight forwarding body that will superintend affairs of all corporate and individual players in logistic chain.
The gradual loss of control by the council as demonstrated by the rebellion of CWCFFN and some associations calls for a new approach by the CRFFN.
As a council that was ‘midwifed’ by all, the Council should adopt a populist approach to fulfilling its mandate; it’s rather too early in the day to be seen to be fighting any of its constituents as the current confrontation or rejection of modalities for verification by a section of freight forwarders appears to be.
The CRFFN should always remember that licensed customs agents have played their game without regulation for decades; hence the push to make them to embrace reforms and regulation should not be too hard.
Licensed customs business developed a as a one-man-several- apprentices endeavour, hence it should not be strange to discover that after ‘graduation’ apprentices still use their ‘master’s’ facilities: including offices, contact, goodwill and business tricks to survive. This probably accounts for why the CRFFN’s proposal to verify the claims of freight forwarders is being opposed by a section of practitioners.
Freight forwarding is not like other professions where practitioners go to school before practising, it evolved as a, learn-on-the-job and pass-it-on profession; hence it will require a lot of perseverance and tolerance from CRFFN. Its current political and administrative leadership must stoop to conquer, rather than being elitist; otherwise, it will spend its formative years quelling rebellion.
Discussion about this post