‘Stop Freight Forwarders from Being Elected Into CRFFN, Take Full Control’— Prince Olayiwola Shittu Tells FG

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Former National President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Olayiwola Shittu has called on the Federal Government to take full control of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and abolish the “election” of freight forwarders into the governing board.

In an exclusive chat with DAILY TREND in his office in Lagos on Tuesday, Prince Shittu noted that the CRFFN is a government agency, henceforth appointment into it’s governing board should be done by the government, strictly based on merit.

According to the current CRFFN Act 2007, 15 freight forwarding practitioners drawn from the five registered freight forwarding associations are usually elected into the governing council to serve a two years tenure.
The federal government in the other side, appoints 17 members into the Council, this would constitute the 32 member governing council of CRFFN.

Speaking with our correspondent, the former ANLCA President noted that this arrangement has been the major bane of the CRFFN. He urged the federal government to call for amendment of the CRFFN Act and remove the aspect of the act that allows election of freight forwarders.

He argued that self regulation should be expunged from the Council’s Act.

Shittu said “The makeup of the CRFFN and the way they are conducting their kangaroo elections is going to make it difficult for them to function. You cannot appoint people that you are going to regulate to come and be the decider of regulation, when they are the people to be regulated. The mistake made is on the election of freight forwarders into the CRFFN, it should have been by appointment, based on merit.
All regulatory bodies are based on appointment.

“It is the government that should do the appointment, CRFFN is a government agency, it was removed from the private sector, so that they can self-regulate, but like every Nigerian sector, people don’t want to be self regulated.

“Associations just like ANLCA, NAGAFF and others, their job is not to regulate themselves, they are there to fight for the rights of their members, but when it comes to regulation, it is best done by government itself.

“We all saw the outcome of the last election into the CRFFN, is that supposed to be called an election? Have you seen any Regulatory body doing that kind of arrangement we just did? Where people were selected just to fulfill a purpose? This is the main reason why CRFFN is having problems.

“The CRFFN Act already says that the Minister of Transportation should direct the affairs of the council onna general note. Part of the Regulation should have been that election of associations should be supervised and midwived by the CRFFN so that the right thing can be done. The CRFFN should regulate the association and the individuals.

“However the Council we have is more interested in who is paying money for practice, annual renewal and so on” he said

Prince Shittu noted that the crisis that engulfed the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) for the past eight years ought to have been resolved by the CRFFN, had it been fully regulated by the federal government.

“All the litigation going on in ANLCA today, the CRFFN could step in, at any giving time to give direction, and a lot of things would have been corrected a long time ago.

“If they are thinking of amendment, they should remove that self regulation. This is main reason why CRFFN stepped into ANLCA matter and everybody were having skepticism from both sides, the government should take full control, you cannot take half control.

“Those that were elected into the Council, what has been the impact of having elected members into the Council whose job is to regulate themselves? People don’t like to regulate themselves, this is just the bane.

“If you are a freight forwarder, and all you do is to pay your annual dues and charges to CRFFN, and you walk away until another year, why should a regulatory body like CRFFN not be able to warehouse all the necessary fees, which would be more than enough to run the CRFFN, but that is not their focus because they get money from government, whether people pay or not.

“Now, we have ended up that, for every job you do as a freight forwarder, they must collect POF, which means their interest is in money and not the job.

“I don’t want to be part of those that believe they are the fathers and mothers of CRFFN, it doesn’t matter who thought about the idea or who midwived it, what matters is the practicability of what we have on ground”

According to the Elder Statesman, the CRFFN Act already gave room for the leadership of the freight forwarding associations to be members of a body set up, called Freight Forwarders Consultative Council (FFCF) where they interface with management of the CRFFN. He said that this is more than enough for the freight forwarders, adding that this forum is where major challenges can be trashed.

When he was asked about his opinion about the pending resolution of the CRFFN on the ANLCA Crisis, Prince Olayiwola Shittu declined comments saying that “It won’t be appropriate for me to speak now until the report of the CRFFN comes out. No matter where the pendulum swings, we would now be able to assess if they have done well or not”

(Watch out for full interview coming up later)