As controversy still trails the collection of the Practitioners Operating Fee (POF), the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Barrister Samuel Nwakohu has given reasons freight forwarders cannot be trusted in the collection process.
Nwakohu who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, said freight forwarders cannot be trusted to pay the fee if not properly enforced.
He added that the CRFFN is currently putting mechanisms in place for full commencement of the collection of the fee.
Explaining further he said that the agency is also working to enable freight forwarders and other port users exit their containers with the receipt of the payment of the fee at the terminals, adding that the process is still between the agency and the terminals.
“Freight forwarders (without any disrespect) I cannot trust that it is something that if not properly enforced, they can do it on their own”
“It’s work in progress, we had a soft lunch and we are currently putting in place mechanisms that will enable people exit their containers with their receipts at the terminals, so that it will be seamless. For you to exit your container you will have to show your receipt that is what we are putting in place right now”, he explained.
Nwakohu however said that the level of the percentage of the integration is not very high so far, even as he blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for the slow-down in the collection of the fee.
“The mechanisms are the integration between us and the terminal operators to ensure that the process is automated. Once you pay your POF, it will show at the other end that you have paid, when you want to exit your container at the terminal, it will be verified and you can carry your containers. That is the stage we are now, at the integration stage with the terminal operators”
“I won’t say that the percentage of the integration is very high, the Minister of Transportation has directed NPA to sort that out and the Minister of Finance has also written that all that should be done. It has been a bit slow because circumstances with which we find ourselves has made it a bit slow, not because they don’t want to, but the COVID-19 that came has slowed it down”, he concluded.
Meanwhile the Director Corporate and Strategic Communication of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Adams Jatto, confirmed that the agency has carried out system integration with CRFFN.
“NPA has carried out system integration with CRFFN. They can now pull manifest information extraction seamlessly and can now pull information automatically at real time”, he said.
Meanwhile an attempt to get across to the Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) Princess Vicky Haastrup, was not fruitful as she neither picked the call or replied the text messages sent to her as at the time of filling this report.
Discussion about this post