Harboursandport.com: Lagos -The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA has kicked against plan by some governing council members of CRFFN to amend the Act establishing the body, even as it called on the Council to account for about N10.5 billion allocation from the National Assembly in the last four years.
ANLCA wondered why the efforts to amend the Act seem to have been done sinisterly if the intention was right.
In a statement made available to Vanguard Maritime Report, National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Joe Sanni stressed the need for the current Act which was championed by ANLCA before it was distorted while passing the legislative process at the National Assembly.
According to him, “The recent attempt by some members of the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to surreptitiously, in defiance of the COVID-19 prevention measures/protocols, smuggle some amendments into its establishment Act 16 of 20017, has suddenly awoken to reality, the sensibilities of the Customs Brokers (aka Customs-licensed clearing Agents).
“ They suddenly woke up a few days to the holding of a secretly planned public hearing on a bill to amend the CRFFN act 16 of 2007, without even knowing what aspects are being proposed for amendments. That move was/promptly punctured by well-meaning members of ANLCA/Nigerians.
“ That rude shock brought into focus the endless altercations between the members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and CRFFN, which incidentally had some selected, pretentious members amongst the governing council members. It also brought to the fore, the fact that members of ANLCA were not electors of those who found themselves as members of CRFFN governing board, and therefore, were never answerable to the Association.
“ But, from the outset of their (6 of them from ANLCA) membership since almost 18 months ago, they have never – as individuals or as a collective, held a meeting with their primary constituency (ANLCA). The same may be said of the other associations, who are all in tandem with the major proponent of CRFFN.
“ But, from the outset of their (6 of them from ANLCA) membership since almost 18 months ago, they have never – as individuals or as a collective, held a meeting with their primary constituency (ANLCA). The same may be said of the other associations, who are all in tandem with the major proponent of CRFFN.
“These proponents were the ones that hijacked the originally conceptualized private citizen’s bill a few years before 2007, removed every word of Customs Brokers and replaced it with freight forwarding, which as at then, till now, is not known to the Nigeria Customs Service – the licensers of the Customs Agents, as enshrined in the Customs & Excise Management Act at sections 153, 154,155 & 156.
“ Now, why the haste to rush through amendments at a public hearing during a COVID-19 pandemic which has rendered every human, social, economic, political activities/interactions and restrictions?
“ Now, why the haste to rush through amendments at a public hearing during a COVID-19 pandemic which has rendered every human, social, economic, political activities/interactions and restrictions?
“ From the body language of the sponsors of the amendments, it has been confirmed that the inordinate urge to institutionalize/incorporate the Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) into the amended CRFFN Act to enable its collection is the primary reason, and to take advantage of the POF when eventually it is passed into law. They also proposed tenure of four years, renewable once more.
“ The implication of this is that those of them privileged to occupy seats at the governing council when the Act is signed takes full advantage. Meaning that instead of the 2 years tenure that is renewable once, they will then be spending ten years, with billions of POF collected to booth. Avaricious and self-centeredness.
“ The implication of this is that those of them privileged to occupy seats at the governing council when the Act is signed takes full advantage. Meaning that instead of the 2 years tenure that is renewable once, they will then be spending ten years, with billions of POF collected to booth. Avaricious and self-centeredness.
“ With their Chief Coordinator within the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ports and harbours representing one of the Federal constituencies in the East, making all the relevant contacts with his colleagues-members and securing their backing, it was almost a fait accompli, as the 12th of May was slated for the public hearing.
“Again, the posturing of especially the members from the two associations with six members each in the Ports recently, it was obvious that their mandate/functions/responsibilities as captured in section 4 of the CRFFN Act 16 of 2007, was alien to all the members of the governing council, as they have been unable, till date to understand the essence of CRFFN as a government regulatory agency.
“Again, the posturing of especially the members from the two associations with six members each in the Ports recently, it was obvious that their mandate/functions/responsibilities as captured in section 4 of the CRFFN Act 16 of 2007, was alien to all the members of the governing council, as they have been unable, till date to understand the essence of CRFFN as a government regulatory agency.
They have been inside the seaports flaunting their official vehicles and ID cards to intimidate and harass Customs Brokers who are out to do their legitimate businesses in the Ports, to forcefully extort them.
“ And so, when they came to collect POF from members in the Ports after months of spending on sensitizations that fell on deaf ears, they were forced to retreat. Perhaps, that is why they sought a more legal window to achieve the POF collection and also benefit from tenure elongation to enable all of them to sit pretty to preside over and disburse the billions of Naira that is likely to accrue to CRFFN. 12 – 12 - Something quite serious that ought to be bugging the minds of members of the present CRFFN Governing Board, is the Steve Oronsaye’s 2014 report white paper, which President Muhammadu Buhari has directed its implementation.
In that report at N255, it was recommended by the committee that CRFFN should have been self-financing, instead of depending on subventions from Government.
Consequently, the committee recommended that WEF 2013, the government should stop giving CRFFN any subvention. But, in its wisdom, the Government stated that the stoppage should take effect from 2015.
“ Alas, since 2015, CRFFN has been receiving billions of Naira averagely every year to construct a befitting secretariat, which till date has never been achieved, train freight forwarders, or set up freight forwarding institutions, etc.
So, CRFFN should begin to think of how they would recover the unauthorized billions they have been spending over the years, back into the coffers of the FGN or be prepared to be docked accordingly.
“ CRFFN should also be prepared to account for all the monies they have collected from the individuals, corporates and associations since inception for about five years, without anything to show for it. At some point in time, they were charging as much as N250,000 per participant in some of the training programs they were able to package, before “everything scatter-scatter, everything Jaga-Jaga” and CRFFN became rudderless, because of lack of intellectual and academic focus on sections 4 and 6 of the CRFFN Act 16 of 2007.
“ The visible differences between the practices of freight forwarding and Customs Brokerage, are very glaring to the professional minds.
By the definition of the Federation of International Air transport Associations (FIATA), a freight forwarder is one who moves cargoes through different modes to its final destination, and by the definition of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations (IFCBA) – a member of World Customs Organization – a Customs Broker is licensed by Customs to interface with Customs administrations, on behalf of Traders (Importers/Exporters), within the Customs environment.
These are two distinct practices, with more emphasis laid on the Customs Brokers because of issues of security, revenue and government policies.
“ The visible differences between the practices of freight forwarding and Customs Brokerage, are very glaring to the professional minds.
By the definition of the Federation of International Air transport Associations (FIATA), a freight forwarder is one who moves cargoes through different modes to its final destination, and by the definition of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations (IFCBA) – a member of World Customs Organization – a Customs Broker is licensed by Customs to interface with Customs administrations, on behalf of Traders (Importers/Exporters), within the Customs environment.
These are two distinct practices, with more emphasis laid on the Customs Brokers because of issues of security, revenue and government policies.
“ It is in the light of the above (15) that serious considerations and conversations are now ongoing, for ANLCA to officially pull out of CRFFN and for its members to then seek to be established under the original concept of CRFFN – which is Council for the Regulation of Customs Brokerage in Nigeria.
“A few years before 2007, no one heard of freight forwarders, until a disgruntled member of ANLCA pulled out to start what he sold to many gullible individuals as government-sanctioned.
Anyway, whatever that meant, ANLCA remains unshakable under the ambience of the Nigeria Customs Service, with her parent Ministry of Finance, despite the espionages carried out within it. It remains as solid as the rock of gilbrater.
18 - For the records, the total budgetary allocation for the years 2015 till 2020 is as follow: 2015 = N319,111,8711.00, 2016 = N542,111,602.00
2017 = N3,942,709,857.00, 2018 = N5,734,817,754.00 while in 2019 and 2020 the amount allocated to the Council is not listed on its website.
Anyway, whatever that meant, ANLCA remains unshakable under the ambience of the Nigeria Customs Service, with her parent Ministry of Finance, despite the espionages carried out within it. It remains as solid as the rock of gilbrater.
18 - For the records, the total budgetary allocation for the years 2015 till 2020 is as follow: 2015 = N319,111,8711.00, 2016 = N542,111,602.00
2017 = N3,942,709,857.00, 2018 = N5,734,817,754.00 while in 2019 and 2020 the amount allocated to the Council is not listed on its website.
“ All these monies, which at the last count was over N20Billion, were spent without even a block laid for CRFFN secretariat anywhere in Nigeria, and yet somebody sat down somewhere, inserted a private business terminal in his hometown worth one hundred million Naira in CRFFN’s 2019 budget, expecting to collect this money off the Federal Government of Nigeria for doing nothing,” he noted.
No comments:
Post a Comment