Story by Dili Utomi.
The Council for the Registration of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is a body saddled with the mandate to regulate the practice of freight forwarding and also to see to the upliftment of practitioners mainly through training. The Council was established by Act 16 of 2007 as an agency of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and though has struggled to have its footing through the years, it has been become slightly autonomous as it is now made to generate its own funds.
The present Acting Registrar of the Council as it is known is Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, a trained journalist who has been with the Council since 2010. She became the Acting Registrar early 2023, but the dynamics within the polity have largely hampered operations, she and her team are now embarking on tour of various stakeholders’ associations and their starting point was on Monday to the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) an association that has mainly been credited with the formation of the Council.
The meeting which held at the Mabin Street, Apapa GRA Headquarters of NAGAFF had the conference room filled to the rafters and the event was kick-started by the deputy national president, headquarters, Mr. Simeon Nwonu who held brief for the president of the association, Chief Tochukwu Ezisi, made unavoidably absent at the occassion.
In his opening speech, Mr. Nwonu said that “the visit of the Acting Registrar has availed NAGAFF through its Registrar of NAGAFF Academy the chance to register their request in the area of course accreditation”. He added that the main job of the Council is the training of freight forwarders and that he is glad that the Council is taking good steps through that direction.
Uromta at the meeting.
The Acting Registrar in her presentation noted that “The current administration is aware of the importance of this sector to the economy and national building and invariably understands how core freight forwarders are to the national growth, hence the creation of a full fledged ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. We must therefore plug in to the opportunity for visibility and relevance by ensuring we cooperate and collaborate totally with the activities of the government to make sure that we are part of the actualisation of the government’s mandate”.
“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 qualify 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”.
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”.
The meeting later opened up to the interactive session where a lot of questions, opinions and answers were given. The NAGAFF deputy national president in his contribution expressed the fear that the CRFFN’s job has now been taken over by the more vibrant Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC) as CRFFN seem not to be doing its duty. A NAGAFF member, Eng. Chukwuemeka Ikeobi also expressed fear of the non-functional nature of the CRFFN ‘s e-mail, the fact that the correspondences are not replied, the fact the the National Institute for Freight Forwarding is being built far away in Abuja while practitioners are found mainly in the litoral states and the fact the payment of members from the Practitioners’s Operating Fee is pending from as far back as 2021.
NAGAFF’s general secretary, Kingsley Igwe buttressed Eng. Ikeobi’s point on the siting of the NIFF at Abuja, he also expressed concern about the cader of those being trained by the CRFFN and the relevance of the training to practitioners and also suggested free professīnal training for all freight forwarders in order to attract attention to the Council. He also emphasised the need for the proper functioning of the Council’s website and the upgrading of all information on the site. He asked the Council to take the licencing of freight forwarders serious so that they can be protected from the fluctuations in the economic mix with certain incentives. Finally, he suggested that the Council organises seminars and conferences for stakeholders who generate revenue for the government.
Chief Afam Chukwuma in his contribution suggested a CRFFN/NAGAFF special committee and added that he recalled that the CRFFN used to help organise international conferences, but that their earlier suspension from the FIATTA posed a drawback, though he said that he is glad that that matter has been taken care of. He also suggested that a uniform means of identification can be processed in collaboration with the Nigerian Ports Authority in order that the freight forwarders all over the country can gain easy access to any Port within the country.
In her reply to the numerous questions and suggestions, Mrs. Uromta firstly appreciated the concern of everyone sitting at the meeting to see to the proper functioning of the Council as the CRFFN has always been seen as a NAGAFF pet project. She said that the Council presently has a limited amount of resources owing largely to the fact of non-funding by government as well as the government’s act of increasing its cash call from the Council from 25% to 50%. She asks all stakeholders to co-operate to help make the Council a success story.
Mrs. Uromta spoke extensively about what the Council intends to acheive and at the end of the meeting she fielded some questions from the pressmen present. She said that the Council’s purpose of trying to reach out to stakeholders is seen as a vital means of achieving stated goals and that she is happy with the engagement she had with the members of NAGAFF on the day.
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