Zebulon ikokhide (NIFFCB)
There will be great changes as a result of the relocation to Lagos by CRFFN.
Apart from that , as soon as the ban is lifted on the collection of transaction fee, then I believe the challenges faced by freight forwarders will be addressed. And again what the freight forwarders need at the moment is training.
Comrade Pius David (Port Activist)
Zebulon ikokhide (NIFFCB)
There will be great changes as a result of the relocation to Lagos by CRFFN.
Apart from that , as soon as the ban is lifted on the collection of transaction fee, then I believe the challenges faced by freight forwarders will be addressed. And again what the freight forwarders need at the moment is training.
Comrade Pius David (Port Activist)
I don't think there is anything the council can do to address some of the challenges freight forwarders are facing in the ports, because ever since the strike action with APMT took place the CRFFN was not part of it by way of taking a stand against the terminal operator in question. Though it is a welcome development due to the fact that freight agents can access them in their corporate head office for one reason or the other, but they have nothing to offer the practitioners.
Elder Donatus Oforma (NAGAFF)
NAGAFF is always in support of CRFFN for it to achieve the mandate of its establishment. CRFFN remains a baby of NAGAFF and since they have moved to Lagos which is the heart beat of freight forwarding practice, issue like going to Abuja to lay one complaint or the other will stop and that is why a say it’s a welcome development. If you want to meet with the chairman , governing council or the registrar, it will all be in Lagos, so for now since they have relocated to Lagos, they can now see for themselves what we the freight agents are facing in ports operations.
Francis Omotosho (ANLCA)
The relocation of CRFFN from Abuja to Lagos might make a difference in freight forwarding practice because by so doing the entire staff will be able to understand better how the industry operates; some of them in Abuja might not know how the players in the industry feels. The closer they are to the industry, the better.
Comrade Onyejike Reuben (Save Nigeria Freight Forwarder)
It will make us to be able to reach them as at when due, whenever we need to see them it will be easy, instead of them staying far away in Abuja where a lot of things will be happening at the port and we cannot communicate with them, Their relocating to Apapa has shown that they are business-minded, their office that I saw at Liverpool, GRA is fantastic. Their not being in Lagos before now made them want to go moribund as if they are not doing anything, this is because they were far away from the stakeholders and they could not get whatever they wanted.
Chief Mike Ekeocha (Chairman Igbo Maritime Forum, Apapa)
For a long time we have been agitating for them to come back to Lagos because Abuja is very far from the seaport, and you know that the cream of the industry are based in the port in Lagos and not in Abuja, but now that they are in Lagos, it will help the Council and the associations, it will help us a lot because for a long time now they have not been getting it right just because they were not interacting well with us.
Ossy Ezeweiyinya (P.R.O, IFFA)
This is one of the most reasonable thing the CRFFN has done in the recent past, this is because there is no clearing in Abuja, but whenever you want to interface with them you will have to travel to Abuja, for some time there were problems in that organisation, at a time they stopped operating, maybe it's because they have not been active, people have not been seeing or hearing what the CRFFN has been doing for the past eight months. But their coming back now will impact positively. If CRFFN can follow and implement its Act, most of the problems we are having with terminal operators, Customs and shipping companies will not be there, this is because CRFFN is empowered by an Act of Parliament to do the things we are asking for.
Sam Onyemelukwe (Former Vice Chair, CRFFN)
If you say initially the headquarters was in Abuja, it is not true, I was and still a substantive Vice Chairman of CRFFN, we have since moved our headquarters to Lagos and that was why we acquired the V.I office then and later the one we have at Apapa GRA, So, for about four years now we have moved the headquarters to Lagos, but if you are telling me that because the headquarters was relocated to Abuja last year and now they are relocating back again to Lagos, then I am giving you a privileged information based on my background. I believe I am a substantive Vice Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria because another council (board) is not yet in place.
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