The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) was conceived in 2007 as a possible solution to the myriad of problems which had militated against freight forwarding and logistics practice in Nigeria.
Those who fought for its birth would never have envisaged that the CRFFN, whose emergence was hailed by stakeholders, would shortly afterward, be faced with ‘life-threatening’ issues, such as have forced it to become so cash-strapped as not to be able to meet its obligations.
Without fear of being contradicted, one can say that, since its creation, the CRFFN has not enjoyed peace. At different times, it has had to contend with freight forwarding associations and individual freight forwarders; it has also had to contend with Government and its functionaries, at different times. It has been bruised and beaten severally to a pulp.
We recall vividly that after its birth, it took a long while to have a governing council and the pioneer governing council spent most part of its two years brokering peace between it and some individuals and between it and some institutions.
The little peace it enjoyed was during the tenure of Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju as chairman of the council and that was about several years ago!
And the CRFFN was enjoying an apparently blissful relationship with all its constituents, until the peace was disrupted by the directive from the then- Minister of Transport; Senator Idris Umar to the CRFFN that the Council could start collecting what was then called ‘transaction fees’ on all imports into the country.
Since the approval became public knowledge, peace eluded the freight forwarding family again. It is a surprise that all efforts to end the feud failed, including the intervention by the then- minister of transport.
It was this serial mistrust that dovetailed into the dissolution of the former governing council, having served for the mandatory two years. And since the Council was dissolved, it has been impossible for the CRFFN to control its registered associations and members.
After the introduction of ‘transaction fees’ failed, the Practitioners Operations Fees (POF) was introduced and hell was let loose again among freight forwarders.
It is the issue of collection and sharing of the controversial that led ANLCA to the law court against the CRFFN, the Ministry of Transport, and many others.
At a point in its history, we had thought that all the troubles and hurdles had been scaled, especially after it got its governing council members and had a substantive Registrar in the person of Barrister Sam Nwakohu.
With a governing council and commencement of collection of Practitioners Operations Fees (POF), stakeholders had thought that peace and corporate governance had returned to the Council. But how wrong we all were.
Naturally, like others in the sector, we had high hopes that the Council would live up to its name as the regulator of freight forwarding in Nigeria. But this was not to be, as the Council became entangled in different crises such that it could not fulfill its destiny.
Sadly, the Council is back on its knees, no thanks to the myriad of problems which had engulfed it in about two years.
First, it has been 17 months since the Federal Government appointed an acting Registrar; Mrs Chinyere Uromta for the Council, following the expiration of the tenure of Barr. Sam Nwakohu in January 2023. Since then, a substantive Registrar is yet to be appointed.
Apparently, the delay has sparked controversy and raised questions about the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability in the freight forwarding industry. This has caused a much bigger damage to the CRFFN.
We are aware that, despite advertising and calling for interested and qualified candidates to apply for the position over a year ago, the appointment of a substantive Registrar has remained stalled. This has led to allegations that the current acting Registrar may be influencing her continued stay in that position.
The acting Registrar has been struggling to ensure that the CRFFN does not go under. But no matter how had she tried, the Council keeps going down.
She has been further left without protection and support by the dissolution of the Governing Council since last year.
Even as it is battling with instability, yet another shock hit the Council. The supervisory ministry constituted a probe panel into the Council’s activities. The ministry summoned all registered freight forwarding associations and the pioneer Registrar.
The probe panel was established by the supervisory Ministry to investigate various allegations against CRFFN, including corruption, mismanagement, and abuse of office. Since the exercise was flagged-off, another round of unease has penetrated the CRFFN.
Perhaps, the most damaging blow to the Council is the removal from direct budgetary allocations by the Federal Government, a privileged it had enjoyed since it was created.
We are strongly of the opinion that, in order for the Council not go into extinction, its status should be clearly defined. As it is now, the CRFFN is run like a government-owned agency. Yet, its governing council is not constituted like the boards of other agencies. The guidelines for the appointment of a Registrar is usually jettisoned, such that the appointee is the candidate of the Minister, just like its done in the appointment of other Chief Executives. However, in the case of the CRFFN, it is a violation of its Act.
That the CRFFN has been battling for survival is because its enabling Act has not been allowed to govern it. If it is an agency of government, why is it that a section of freight forwarders has contested this status?
The CRFFN as it presently, can not command the respect and trust of freight forwarders. It has no structures to do that, it has no resources to meet its needs. It is broke!
Perhaps, the present predicament calls for a review of the 2007 Act which established the CRFFN. It is time freight forwarders took ‘their Council’ back from government. The best way to achieve this is to lobby the National Assembly for a review of the Act, to make the Council a private sector-owned and driven organization.
