The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is a government Agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating, training and directing the practicing of the freight forwarding profession in Nigeria.
The Council has over the years grappled with teething problems that have occurred as a result of practitioners not understanding the core madates of the Council. Different personal and sectional interests and lack of proper funding have militatesd against the CRFFN as it is.
The Registrar of the CRFFN is Mr. Kingsley Igwe, a knowledgeable, astute and visionary man with years of experience in the profession. Aside the already itemised hurdles that he has to cross, he has also been dealing with some litigations from some of the licenced associations under the Council.
The CRRFN according to Mr Igwe “has an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 practitioners even though the numbers keep swelling by the day and the fact of the level of unemployment has made it that a lot of people claim to be professionals while truly, they are not”.
The recent litigation from the National Council of Managing Director of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) which challenges the jurisdiction of the Council to regulate them is a reference. The NCMDLCA claim that they are not freight forwarders, but licenced Customs agents and therefore do not fall under the direct responsibility of the Council.
There is also the matter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA) challenging his appointment at the courts as they deemed Mr. Igwe ‘too close’ to a rival association.
When faced with the question of whether the CRFFN is a lame duck waiting to be destroyed by all manners of people as it is seen as not living up to standard, Mr. Igwe said that it is just the misunderstanding of the functions of the CRFFN.
He noted that they are “currently scraping the foundation, laying fresh one and trying to give the Council the necessary impetus to move ahead. We are looking at the policies, entry and exit plans and the international standard of operation in order to move the Council to a higher level”
The Council is also embroiled in the question of the sharing formular for the Practioners Operating Fees as practioners want a continuation of the sharing of the POF. Mr. Igwe noted that the question of practioners sharing a part of the POF is rather abnormal as this quest is not entertained by other government agencies that collect revenues from practioners.
He said that it was an expedient gesture of past Registrars which had no legal standpoint, but was just made to quell agitations. He categorically stated that the agitations of stakeholders to share part of the POF is totally unconstitutional.
On the thorny issue of the accreditation and licencing of freight forwarding associations, he said that there has been an abuse by some registered associations and the reform of all accreditations and licencing form part of the reforming process that they are currently embarking on.
He noted “we want to start the revalidation of the licences of service providers in the freight forwarding sector in order to separate the wheat from the chaff and that is very soon. All Freight Forwarders should try as much as possible to upscale their knowledge and engage themselves in trainings, every time”.
The federal government is currently trying to ensure high performance from the ministries, agencies and departments (MDA) and so performance bonds as a means to meeting the key performance index are being signed. Mr. Igwe had added that his Council has recently signed the bond with the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.
He admitted that freight forwarders need to be compensated and so the Council has embarked on training programmes. He volunteered that the Council has already trained about 350 freight forwarders from the Airport corridor and will be embarking on another round of training for those around the seaports.
“We aim to train about 1,000 practioners every year and have already trained about 350 this year with more training coming up over the next few months”.
The various challenges facing the CRFFN are public knowledge, but the man at the helms of affairs right now seem quite determined to weather the storm. He has the posture of someone who wants to carve a niche for himself while taking the Council to a higher pedestal. Can he do this? Only time will tell.
The full interview with Mr. Igwe comes up on the Maritime Frontiers Show on VOP television, Sunday, 2.00pm to 3.00pm, Tuesday, 2.00pm to 3.00pm and Thursday 2.00pm to 3.00pm.
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