Freight Forwarding Associations Dare Amaechi, Collects Illegal Fees at Airport

…Expert Calls for Probe of CRFFN

Despite the directive issued by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi in 2016 that freight forwarding associations should stop the collection of fees at Lagos airport, former president of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Eugene Nweke has said the fees are still being collected.

Nweke called on the Governing Council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to probe the illegal collection of “agents commission fee” by freight forwarding associations at Lagos airport.

Recall that one major association known for collection of the said fee is the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). The association was accused of collecting the money and sharing with NAGAFF while other ‘small’ associations were allegedly shut out.

Nweke in a position paper sent to DAILY TREND NEWS yesterday alleged that the monies are still being collected in Lagos and other international airports in the country despite the directive from Amaechi through Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) SAHCOL and NACHO.

He also said there is need to probe activities of the immediate past administration of the CRFFN headed by its Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe when there were no elected Governing Council in place.

The former NAGAFF President said there was need to redirect the administrative focus of the CRFFN  in veiw of a seeming misplacement of administrative priorities, as evidenced in the breakdown of its budgetary focus for year 2017-2019.

“Probe the continuous  Collection 
of “agents commission fee” at the airports for the association, in spite of ministerial stoppage order to this effect to FAAN, Nacho, Sachol ( in Lagos) and other international airports. Such huge some of monies if recovered  should aid the administrative easiness of the CRFFN, and inject sanity

It is important to reiterate that, a Professional Council must  not accept internal corrupt practices and maladministration, it belittles a regulatory council integrity and gives a negative imaging  where administrative structure thrives on a corrupt premise

Rather than building big edifice as administrative offices, cut across zones and states, the Council  should develop and build cargo villages, cutting across zones and relevant states, and lease same out for revenue purposes.

Alternatively, the CRFFN should partner with the Nigerian Shippers Council under a joint venture/MOU arrangement to develop industry clusters with a free zones status within Border Crossing Zones, Airports, Dry Ports” he said 

Nweke argued that the Registrar of CRFFN remains a contract employee of the Council, with a four year renewable tenure, he is not an  employee of the Federal Ministry Of Transportation, same is applicable to staff work force.

On government’s endorsement for the collection of Practitioners Operations Fee (POF) he said this should ordinarily be a tacit support, adding that regulations can evolve further ways or sources of revenue for the administrative sustenance of the CRFFN and the Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum (FFCF) should explore options.

He added that “Training and Retraining should take a greater chunk of its yearly budgetings, and not as contains in the present recurrent budget expenditure breakdown”

“Most importantly, enforcement of the mandatory professional training and certification is key”