Freight forwarders at war over collection of practice fees at ports

There is an uneasy calm at the Lagos port among the major freight forwarding associations who are now at a dagger drawn over the collection of practicing fees.

Recently, the Council for the regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN) got the ministerial approval to commence the collection of practicing fees at the port to run its affairs.

However, the attempt by the regulatory agency to commence the collection at the Seme border last week was violently aborted by a group of irate Customs brokers, believed to be members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA), who allegedly assaulted the CRFFN officials.

 This development has drawn the irk of other freight forwarding associations which have now ganged up against ANLCA.

The aggrieved four associations, under the aegis of Concerned Registered Freight Forwarding Association, which include National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), a faction of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders (AREFF) and National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), are now spoiling for a war with ANLCA over what they described as the violent conduct of its members and the arrogant attitude of its leadership.

At a media parley in Lagos, the enraged executive members of the four associations were pushing for the sanction of ANLCA.

Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, Founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), who spoke on behalf of other freight forwarding associations, called on the leadership of ANLCA to rein in its members as another attack on the officials of CRFFN in the course of collecting the controversial practicing would not go unpunished.

Aniebonam observed that the CRFFN as an agency of government cannot be stopped from carrying out a policy approved by the government.

He stated that the attack that occurred at Seme on the officials of CRFFN must have been tacitly approved by the leadership of ANLCA whom he accused of encouraging violence.

”Any further attacks by the unruly members of ANLCA would be visited by the full weight of the law” Aniebonam declared.

The NAGAFF founder however berated the Registrar of CRFFN, Mike Jukwe, for being timid in the face of unwarranted provocation, noting that the Registrar was ignorant of the powers he has as the head of a government agency to discipline the perpetrators of the attacks.

He however threatened that the four associations would move against the Registrar if he fails to mobilize enough security operatives to starve off the repeat of Seme attack.

 Aniebonam explained that CRFFN as a government agency cannot complain of not having enough powers to carry out its function with the Police and other security operatives at its disposal.

“Jukwe will definitely be our next line of action if he cannot take responsibility and act accordingly. Leadership has a lot to do with who is in charge, we have told him and I hope he will listen to us.

“What Jukwe would have done if he knows the position he is holding is to write to the IGP as the head of an agency of government.

“CRFFN is an agency of the government and the Registrar has the powers of the president to make a formal write-up to the IGP and anything an association or anybody does contrary to the law is criminal and the police will prosecute the person but he is waiting for the Transport Ministry to come and fight for him when they have given him the power,” Aniebonam said.

 He accused the leadership of ANLCA of opposing the collection because of its dissatisfaction with the sharing formula, adding that the association cannot over-rule the policy of government.

 ” There is nothing ANLCA can do on the matter since other four associations that have equal status with the association have accepted the sharing formula. We are in a democracy and four will carry the day in a vote against one”, he declared.

 He said that ANLCA was aggrieved because it has been collecting such fees from its members over the years.

” Information before  me was that many members of ANLCA were in favour of the collection but some board members of ANLCA are dissatisfied with the sharing formula”. The NAGAFF founder claimed.

 According to him, the Committee set up by ANLCA on the issue with former President , Sir Ernest Lochukwu and Publicity Secretary, Mr Kayode Farinto as members, has been making moves to renegotiate the sharing formula but “nobody is listening to them”.

The aggrieved freight forwarding associations however urged  ANLCA to simply accept the will of the people and other associations.

”If ANLCA is not careful, it will fall like the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The propaganda being employed by ANLCA can no longer be sustained because with the four associations in favour of the collection, ANLCA cannot stop the collection”, Aniebonam declared.

 However, the ANLCA has dismissed the threat of the four associations whom were said got ”their provisional accreditation from CRFFN through the back door”

Kayode Farinto, the National Publicity Secretary of the association , said that the four associations could go ahead to collect the port practicing fees from their members only, but warned that ANLCA be left out of the arrangement as the association was busy strategizing on how to move the industry forward.

” We wish to advice CAFFA that should this small freight forwarding associations be interested in collecting money, they should go ahead and collect from their members only.

”ANLCA will not complain about this and they should also be careful with their outburst. If not, we wouldn’t have choice rather than to expose how they got their provisional registration. It is only ANLCA that has met all the pre-request during the registration of association, but these four associations under CAFFA: National Government Approved Freight Forwarding (NAGAFF), National Council of Managing Director Licensed Customs Agent (NCMDLCA), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (ARCFFN) and National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC)” were given provisional registration through the back door.

” It however amuses us whenever we hear that these same people that were given provisional registration are calling for deregistration of ANLCA. We are the only democratic association with a wide spread in all the geographical location across Nigeria.

” We wish to say unequivocally that CAFFA should go ahead and collect the Practitioners Operation Fees (POF) from their members only, if they actually have.  ANLCA is currently busy with the development of the sector one of which is the Common External Tariff (CET) and the adverse effects of it implementation and not trivial issues like the POF collection”, Farinto said in a statement.