… Declares Practitioners’ Operating Fess illegal
The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has tasked the yet to be announced Minister of Transport to set as a priority the resolution of the crisis rocking the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) with a view to consolidating the gains so far made in the Council.
The National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto gave the charge yesterday at a roundtable organised by the maritime reporters under the aegis of Maritime Correspondents Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON) in Lagos.
Farinto who was in the company of the association’s National President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu also called for a review of the Act establishing the CRFFN adding that there was a lot of lacuna noticeable in the Act.
According to him,” I also noticed that there is a lot of lacuna in the Act establishing the Council. I don’t want to be saying that here now but if I take my time to explain that, you will discover that the people that put that Act in place hurriedly did that. There are many issues that shouldn’t be.
“ANLCA is created by the Nigeria Customs Service, I pay N250, 000 to renew my license at the Customs headquarters minus the N15, 000 my President was talking about in every command, why do I need to be regulated again by the CRFFN knowing fully well that somebody who is a tanker driver or a truck driver can go to the CRFFN, pay the N17, 000, obtain a receipt and become a freight forwarder? We are not the same, we are employers of labour, that was why I said there is a lot of issues in the CRFFN that will be looked into”.
He however thanked God that most of their members were elected into the National Assembly in the recently concluded general elections in the country saying that they could now boast of people from the maritime industry through whom they could effect a change in the industry by pushing bills to them to sponsor as executive bills.
On his part, the National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu noted that the planned collection of the Practitioners’ Operating Fees (POF) remained illegal stressing that it was as result of illegality that led to the delay by the immediate past Minister of Transport to consent on the collection and sharing formula only to do that in the twilight of his tenure in office.
He noted that those calling for the harmonization of the CRFFN Act and that of the Customs and Excise Management Act needed to be educated arguing that it was ignorant on the part of those canvassing for such a position even as he said that customs licensing cannot be substituted by any other Act since it was a global practice.
“Let me tell you, the money is illegal to be collected in the first place . That fact has been established, that was why the immediate past minister refused to give the go ahead until the last minute just like the way they passed other bills in the National Assembly. People are standing on a level of illegality but we say we don’t want to go that way “, he stated.
He quipped that the constitution of Nigeria states that all revenues accruing to all agencies of government should go to the federation account thereby querying the rationale behind CRFFN collecting money in the name revenue and sharing same with the freight forwarding associations in the manner proposed by the Council.
He reiterated that the salaries, allowances and other benefits of CRFFN staff was being paid by the government wondering how they could collect money and hand them over to the staff of the Council in the name of revenue sharing.
The ANLCA boss described the current issues surrounding collection of the POF as a moral war among practitioners adding that, “Even among thieves, there is honour”.
He said that other associations can go ahead and collect the fee but they should leave ANLCA members out of the collection alleging that the four other associations did not have the weight, strength and members that can pay, even as he opined that 90% of those involved in the payment of the fee were members of his association.
“When the four associations say we are equal before the law, that sharing must be equal, we said okay fine, go and collect from your members and pay to CRFFN and then take all, we are not interested to pay and we will not take “.
He also debunked claims that ANLCA agreed on the sharing formula of the POF disclosing that it was the Registrar of the Council who came with the sharing formula allegedly approved by the then Minister of Transport even as he cleared that the sharing formula was never discussed in any of their meeting with the CRFFN.
