The Association of
Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA) on Tuesday insisted on the
establishment of a Governing Council to run the affairs of the Council for Regulation of
Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN), saying that a single individual, the registrar,
cannot assume the place of a Governing Council.
 |
| Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi |
Spokesman of the
Association, Dr. Kayode Farinto, told newsmen at a briefing that there must be
a Governing Council of the CRFFN which can within its powers review the Act to incorporate
any development for the betterment of the council and the operators in customs
brokrage.
He said:"We
notice that the Registra is trying to change himself into an Executive
Secretary to give him powers. But, we have written to the Attorney-General that
the CRFFN Act has not been tested, so, it cannot be amended to enable the collection of Practitioners
Operating Fee(POF)."
He declared that
outside of such discretion of a Governing Council, "the CRFFN Act does not
make provisions for the collection of the POF, which the Ministry of
Transportation has endorsed to be collected through the terminal operators."
Farinto said that his
association remains totally against the collection of the POF because it is against
the Ease of Doing Business Initiative to grant the nation's ports
competitiveness in the maritime trade within the sub-region.
It would be recalled
that members of ANLCA, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest at the Tincan
Island Port to publicly register their position to the terminal operators that
they stand against collection of the
POF.
He said: "Yesterday,
after the peaceful protest, we submitted
our letter that we are against collection of POF and nobody will claim that they
did not see it."
The ANLCA spokesman
said that they were still alarmed at how monies allocated to the CRFFN in 2016
and 2017 were so far spent.
Speaking on foreigners
who operate as customs brokers, Farinto said they had written to the Senate on
the need to imdigenize the practice, in order to allow Nigerians get their jobs
back, which hitherto are being done by foreign nationals who are only concerned
with their interest.
He further disclosed
that they have also written to the appropriate authorities to suspend such
other levies including the port development levy, which he said has grown to
"over 2 trillion Naira" being collected by the Nigerian Ports
Authority even after over 10 years of port concession."
Commenting on the
state of affairs of the Association of
Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents and the National Association of Government
Approved Freight Forwaders Initiative, otherwise known as ANI, Farinto said the
associations have right to disagree on issues just as his association is
against collection of POF while NAGAFF supports it.
He, however, stated
that ANLCA National Executive Council would make the associarion's final
decision known when it meets this week.
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