The Acting Registrar of the CRFFN, Chinyere Uromta at the meeting.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The tour to various associations within the freight forwarding circle by the Acting Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta and her team on Wednesday took them to the headquarters of the National Association of Freight Forwarding And Consolidators (NAFFAC).
The Acting Registrar and her team met with the President of NAFFAC, Prince Adeyinka Bakare with the executive members of the Association.
The dynamics within the polity have hampered the operations of the Council largely owing to the government’s increase in the percentage of cash call from the Council from 25% to 50%, but the Acting Registrar and her team are now embarking on tour of various stakeholders’ associations to create awareness, get more freight forwarders registered and ultimately expand the membership and financial base of the Council .
NAFFAC Peesident, Prince Adeyinka Bakare at the meeting.
The Acting Registrar in the speech that she read noted that “I wish to recall that the core mandate of the Council is to professionalise the freight forwarding sector by developing standards, providing education and training programmes for freight forwarders. In 2020, the Council for the first time determined the minimum qualification required to practice freight forwarding in Nigeria which is the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding and Supply Chain Management or its equivalent. These programmes qualifies you to practice freight forwarding in Nigeria. We equally have the Executive Professional Diploma (EPD) programme which serves as an executive pathway for Certificate of Experience as provided in the CRFFN Act. The main purpose of the programme is to validate the experience and update the knowledge of Executive Officers in the freight forwarding sector through an intensive one week residential programme”.
The session in progress.
Mrs. Uromta added that “The University of Lagos, (UNILAG) and some other institutions of higher learning in Nigeria have signed Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) with the Council to deliver training programmes which cut across Freight Forwarding, Logistics and Supply chain Management. I am highly optimistic that these trainings, if well harnessed will contribute tremendously to the growth of your Association and the economy at large. We hope members will continuously take advantage of these programmes and build professional capacities. Moreover, efforts are in place to ensure Speedy completion and delivery our National Institute of Freight Forwarders (NIFF) building in Abuja which will further strengthen and enhance freight forwarders professional development and Capacity building”.
On the payment of declarant fee Mrs. Uromta said that “The Leadership of CRFFN is aware that we have huge outstanding remittance of this fee. The reasons were partly due to wrong account numbers submitted Initially and some other challenges beyond our immediate control. We would like to assure you that efforts are in place to commence payment of all outstanding and ensure, going forward, payment of this ‘gazetted’ fee, as and when due. Kindly bear with us”.
A group photograph after the meeting.
The NAFFAC president, Prince Adeyinka Bakare while reacting to the submissions of the Acting Registrar advised that “the CRFFN needs to perform its statutory functions optimally” On the target of collecting a higher percentage of the Practitioners Operating Fee by the Council from freight forwarders, he added that “the Council cannot collect more than the present percentage the way it operates right now as it needs to really register more practitioners into the fold. Prince Bakare also advised that the agreed percentage for payment of the declarant fee to all the freight forwarding associations should be adhered to in order that more practitioners would pay the POF as he encourages the Acting Registrar to seek the help of the Minister for Marine and Blue Economy to be able to acheive her stated objectives including the amendment of the CRFFN act of 2007 which seems to have become an impediment to success. He admonished the Council to “take charge of what are its own as other arms of what generally make up the freight forwarding industry other than the goods clearing arm are not well covered in their bid to generate revenue”.
The former president of NAFFAC, Mr. Chukwuma Ani Thomas Agubama opined that the “the CRFFN is not making impact in terms of the creation of awareness, they should have a newsletter or a news and information platform”. He added that “training fees should be affordable in order that more practitioners can enrol to be trained”. Mr Agubama also touched on the assumed excess nature of the number of government agencies operating at the Airport and asked the Acting Registrar to do something about the number.
The Acting Registrar responded to the advises and suggestions and noted that some of the responsibilities mentioned fall on the laps of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC), that she has also been speaking with the Minister for Marine and Blue Economy for the resolution of some of the issues raised which also include the amendment of the CRFFN act that the Minister has agreed that a committee will be set up which will liaise with the National Assembly to review the Act 16 of 2007 that set the Council up. She said that the Council only now needs to write the Ministry that the Committee should be set up. Mrs. Uromta also revealed that plans are in place to set up a Consultative Forum, adding that there will be a constant town hall meeting to rub minds and share ideas on how to constantly “listen to ourselves”.
The Acting Registrar appealed that the fact of the Federal Government taking 50% of what is generated by the Council without any form of subsidy is currently affecting the meeting of all financial responsibilities including the payment of the declarant fee, but that they need the co-operation of all stakeholders to riase the revenue base and meet their responsibilities.
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