92% of freight forwarders are unregistered

The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Council of Nigeria, CRFFN, has indicated that an overwhelming majority of freight forwarding operators in Nigeria are operating without its registration.

It therefore, said that the Council is set to publish the names of the defaulting operators. According to the Council, only 64 out of 787 members are registered.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos yesterday, Chairman of the Council, Barrister Sam Nwakohu, said that the Council has concluded its integration exercise with both the Nigeria Customs Service, with regards to registration of freight forwarders.

Nwakohu also said that the Council has completed integration with eight terminals in Lagos while the integration with ports in the South and South East are on-going.

He explained that the integration will go pari parsu with the enforcement of the collection of Practitioners Operating Fee, POF, by terminal operators. He stated: “We are glad to inform you that following the successful integration with terminal operators in the Western ports, enforcement of Practitioners Operating Fee, POF, collection has commenced.

“The POF is derived from the provisions of Section 6 of CRFFN Act is a major source of our internally generated revenue, first for the government and secondly to drive the necessary reforms and develop the industry. Anybody or organization that fails to pay the POF contravenes the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“More will be done as time goes on. We do not want to wait for the commencement of enforcement.”