The coalition of Concerned Nigerian Registered Freight Forwarders (CNRFF) and the Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum (FFCF), a brain child of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN), have condemned the gap in good relationships among governmental and non governmental organizations in the ports on one hand and freight forwarders on the other, urging the government to ensure a noticeable improvement going forward.
This was part of resolutions by the coalition at a one-day maiden edition of freight forwarders’ summit held in Lagos,Thursday, under the chairmanship of Chief Ernest Elochukwu, former National President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). The Summit was convened by Dr Basil Chudi Nwolisa, President, Association of Nigerian Customs Brokers (ANCB).
In a communique jointly released by the Steering Committee’s Chair and Secretary respectively, Prince George Ndubuisi and Alhaji Rasak Giwa, the Summit appraised the problems bedeviling the freight forwarding subsector in Nigeria and regretted that rather than decreasing, they are getting worse by the day. The CNRFF and FFCF Summit therefore recommended that immediate strategies be put in place by the government of the day to address them.
It demanded that the implementation of the 32-point solutions identified by Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum(FFCF) in its meeting in August 2022 and ratified by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding In Nigeria (CRFFN) in its meeting in September 2022 should be fast-tracked.
The Summit also agreed that there will be a Monitoring Committee for the implimentation of solutions to identified problems in the subsector.
In the same manner, “Nigerian Freight Forwarding Summit” will become an annual event under the same CNRFF – FFCF structure.
Summit recommended that henceforth, the CRFFN Governing Council Board and management should run strictly according to the provisions of the establishment Act. Emphasis should be on effective fulfillment of CRFFN’s mandate of training and retraining of freight forwarding practitioners.
Summit also recommended an amendment of the CRFFN establishment Act to reflect the required independence and focus which should always be on attending to the welfare needs of Registered Freight Forwarders.
All freight forwarding associations, the Summit said, should be merged into one body for operational effectiveness and attainment of the needed recognition from the government, her agencies and other stakeholders.
The release commended stakeholders who took time off their tight business schedules to grace the maiden summit.
