Story by Dili Utomi.
“We want to start the revalidation of the licences of service providers in the freight forwarding area”.
This is an emphatic pronouncement that was made, Wednesday by the Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Mr. Kingsley Igwe while speaking in a meeting with some members of the National Single Window Project (NSWP), the body that is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the federal government’s single window policy for all things trade in Nigeria.
The visiting NSWP officers to the Council include team leader, Tola Fakolade, Peter Efunkoya, Ikechukwu Uwaka, Jude Obuh, Ade Jimoh, Dubem Onuora, Ayokunu Ojeniyu and others.
Mr. Fakolade described the NSWP as a platform where all government agencies engage in one platform to complete all the processes of import/export to improve trade facilitation, true transparency and expediting all the processes in the logistics supply chain. “It is an integrated process of administering the shared responsibilities along the logistics value chain”.
The CRFFN presentation made by Florence Egbuna to the NSWP team included the fact of the Council’s formation through the Act 16 of 2007, the fact that over 4,000 companies have been registered by the Council since inception and that 148 companies have recently been registered by the Council.
Mr. Igwe on his part revealed that they “have been training practioners at Port terminals, an action which has been greatly commended. We are adding value by professionalising the job of the service providers. Over 40,000 logistics providing companies are in the country with well over that figure for !individuals practising the profession and all will be captured in the NSWP”. Mr. Igwe enthused.
The team leader of the NSWP, Mr. Fakolade posed a question concerning the dichotomy between the nomenclature, freight forwarding and licensed Customs agents and the level of collaboration of the CRFFN with sister agencies.
Mr. Igwe responded that the Council is in collaboration with the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and the Nigeria Customs Service in t training at their various domains along with the different engagements therein. He added that “We want to commence the revalidation of the licences of all service providers and this process will help in having a good database of legitimate practitioners and a prerequisite of them being captured into the national single window project.
Further responses by the team leader at the meeting included his statement concerning the mandate of the team. He also added that the NSWP team has taken note of all the points made by the Registrar and hopes that the Council’s plans can be easily integrated to align with the objectives of the NSWP as quickly as possible.
A member of the Council expressed the fear that the NSWP will encroach on the revenue area of the Council, but the team leader said that the fear should not be entertained. Mr. Fakolade explained that the NSWP is required to be domiciled with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and that it is not intended to deny any agency of its revenue, but to block revenue leakages.
For advertisement and more information, please contact us 08027590195, 08035721540 or email us at greatalternativenigltd@gmail.com, diliutomi1@gmail.com. or send us messages on x @dn_utomi or on Instagram @utomidili
