Starting from January 2015, it will not be business as usual for clearing agents especially fraudulent practitioners operating at the nation’s seaports, airports and land borders as the council for the Regulation of Freight forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), has vowed to uphold professionalism in the freight forwarding industry.
Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe while addressing the national leaders of registered freight forwarding associations in Lagos on Friday, said those who clear goods without registering would be prosecuted by the tribunal of the Council, adding that anyone found guilty “shall be sentenced”.
Reading the riot act to all the practitioners present, the Jukwe said CRFFN would commence full implementation of its statutory roles by January 2015.
National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince OlayiwolaShittu; Deputy National President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Barr. Fred Aikokai; and representatives of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (AREFFN) and the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) all attended the meeting with Jukwe at the new CRFFN national headquarters in Apapa, Lagos.
The CRFFN Registrar said that the Council would soon roll out its compliance list, which the associations were expected to comply with.
He said, “We are going to sanitise this industry, we cannot afford the business as usual.
“The Council will de-register any company that falls foul of the laws and by the time we de-register people and send them out of the industry, others will sit up.”
He said the Council would hold regular meetings with corporate bodies in the industry to strengthen relationship between them.
Speaking earlier, ANLCA President Shittu charged accredited freight forwarders’ training institutes to engage in more publicity and reach out to members of the registered associations as the executives could only persuade the members but could not force them to undertake trainings.
Shittuadvised the regulatory body to understand and appreciate the reasons for its creation and live up to the standard for which it was established.
Shittu named former Tin Can Island Port chapter chairman of ANLCA, Prince KayodeFarinto to serve as liaison officer between the association and CRFFN.
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