CRFFN’s POF Brouhaha: ‘We Don’t Know How Much has been Collected so far’—Registrar Admits
CRFFN Registrar, Mr Kingsley Igwe
By DAPO OLAWUNI
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Mr Kingsley Igwe has opened up that the Council does not have knowledge of how much has accrued so far from the collection of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) at Nigerian ports.
While fielding questions from Journalists at a press briefing organised at CRFFN headquarters in Lagos on Tuesday, Mr Igwe said the consultant which the Council engaged to collect the POF fee is not sincere enough, and has failed to disclose how much is already in the bag.
The Practitioners’ Operating Fee (POF) has been a subject of controversy among freight forwarders operating at Nigerian ports, even as a Federal High Court in Lagos recently delivered a judgement in favour of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) declaring the fee as illegal.
The POF fee at seaports is N1,000 for 20ft containers and N2,000 for 40ft containers. This fee is a statutory payment mandated by the Federal Government and is payable by clearing agents and freight forwarders before cargo can exit the ports.
Speaking on the collection, the CRFFN Registrar said “As for how much we have collected so far from POF, this is something we are also trying to find out because as matter of fact, the collection is not directly under the control of the Council, we engaged a consultant.
“The consultant is in the best position to give us a clearer account of how much they have collected on POF.
“As we speak, the council does not have that figure and we have been demanding for it from this consultant, but they have not been transparent enough to declare to us how much they have collected, and this is still on their table to let the public know how much they have collected. It is not supposed to be a secret” he said
The CRFFN boss however assured that the Council is looking into activities of the various freight forwarding association’s and practitioners and that it shall give a report soonest.
