… Says‘No to POF’ collection
Harboursandport.com: Lagos--- The Association of
Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, (ANLCA), at its just-concluded National
Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the weekend, said
it has pulled out of the ANLCA-NAGAFF Initiative, (ANI).
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| National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayewola Shittu |
A statement made
available to harboursandport.com noted that though the Association is of the
view that the initiative was a purpose-driven platform to address persisting
operational challenges in the ports and the deplorable port access roads, it
decided to discontinue with it and said that “future engagements with any
organization must be brought to the notice of the Board of Trustees.”
It would be
recalled that while ANLCA stands strongly against the collection of a proposed
Port Operations Fee (POF), the National Association of Government Approved
Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) is fully in support of POF collection.
During the
meeting, ANLCA members restated their rejection of the collection of the POF,
saying that “ANLCA members shall not be robbed to pay other associations whose
members do not hold/have Customs licenses/declarants.”
The association
said that it particularly frowned at the Council for the Regulation of Freight
forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) for having “reneged on an earlier promise to
gazette the implementation of an agreement with associations to set aside 35%
collections for declarants (licensed Customs Agencies) and the need for
elections into the governing board of CRFFN, for its effective administration.”
ANLCA also said
that the case it instituted against the CRFFN in 2015, asking the court to
restrain the CRFFN and its proxies from collecting any monies in the name of
POF from its members was still pending, adding that for that reason, the
Seaport Terminal operators of Nigeria (STOAN) earlier engaged by the Federal
ministry of Transportation and the CRFFN for the POF collection have backed out
of the deal.
In that vein,
ANLCA decided that its members would not require a CRFFN certificate to pay
renewal fee and to get a Port Pass from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),
while clarifying the amount to be paid.
“It was decided
that because ANLCA is in Court with CRFFN, no certification is required for the
NPA port pass, which should not cost more than N6,500, instead of the N10,000
being requested for in the West and over N100,000 in the East.
“Moreover, only
one year of subscription is to be paid as renewal of membership with CRFFN,
instead of the three years arrears being requested for.”
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