The Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Sir Mike Jukwe has lauded the ruling of the Federal High Court sitting Lagos and which was presided over by Justice Saliu Saidu which ruled that the council was a government agency as against the argument advanced by the Freight Forwarders that the council was a private one owned by them.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Primetime Reporters via the telephone on Monday, Jukwe stated that the ruling of the Court had vindicated him and the Honourable Minister of Transport whom he said had maintained that the council was a regulatory agency of government and not a private council.
He expressed surprise at the assurance with which stakeholders as well as some learned lawyers were insisting that the council was a private one adding that with the recent ruling, all that had been put to rest.
According to him, “ the court judgement has vindicated us, both myself and the Honourable Minister, because when we were saying this, people were saying no, even to our surprise, top lawyers were also saying no, that we are a private council”.
“But the judgement of the court, the Attorney General earlier ruled as such and then the court has also ruled the same way. So, we are vindicated, which means that what we were saying was true”.
The Registrar however expressed optimism that with the court decision on the matter, it would also take care of the distractions that had bedeviled the council over the years as well as the problem of funding adding that the judgement had set the ball rolling for more achievement to be recorded in the council.
“It means that we can work without all the distractions that we were having before now. We had a lot of distractions from the beginning, first, it was whether we are private or government council, secondly, my being appointed as the Registrar of the CRFFN was being contested till the the Honourable Attorney General gave his own opinion and now you can see that all the opinion he gave had been upheld by the court as being correct opinion”.
“So, I think that all these distractions will be put to an end, our funding too will now be considered in line with the ruling and once we are properly funded and there are no distractions and worries here and there, then we will do our job as it should be done. In spite of all that, we were doing all that we did, so, if we are given all that we need, we will do better and even do more”, he said.
Reacting on whether the freight forwarders can call for an amendment of the Act establishing the council to take care of the fears they perceived in the act as advised by the Presiding Judge, he opined that all the stakeholders were entitled to their opinion and that if they they feel that they have strong ground upon which to contest their position on the act, they should not hesitate to approach the National Assembly who would Amend the Act or do otherwise.
The Registrar further disclosed that since the ruling one month ago, the council was yet to receive any notice of appeal against the ruling of the court an indication that they would abide by the court ruling even as he said that since the plaintiffs were in a better position to know what they want, it was not in his place to decide for them on whether to appeal the ruling or not.
In another development, the Registrar of CRFFN, Sir Mike Jukwe has said that there was no clash of interest between the council and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) over accreditation and certification of training institutions in the Maritime industry.
Jukwe who was speaking on the backdrop of report credited to NIMASA where it was quoted as saying that it would recognize any certificate issued by any Maritime training institute it did not certify and accredit pointed out that the CRFFN Act was clear on the council’s area of interest.
He observed that the specific areas of coverage of the council as spelt out in the Act establishing it are Freight Forwarding, Supply Chain Management and Logistics.
According to him,”there are schools that they (NIMASA) have the right to accredit, I will only speak for myself, our own Act is very clear, anything that has to do with freight forwarding, supply Chain Management and logistics. These are exclusively for us, we accredit the institutions, we accredit the training programmes”.
“So, theirs is different from ours. When you go through the Act, like the NITT Zaria, anything that has to do with transport, it their exclusive right, they accredit their programmes as well. So, the Act establishing every institution gives them the specific areas of coverage. There is no clash of function between the council and NIMASA”.
Jukwe however said that the council had started running trainings and different programmes on freight forwarding nationwide adding that the accreditation by FIATA were being run by schools like the Redeemers’ University in Ogun state as well as other institutions across the federation.
“So, we are happy that very soon, people will be coming out, graduate in this profession and it will automatically give you the credibility that everybody is clamouring for and it will enhance the capacity of the practitioners”, Jukwe said.
