The National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Chief Increase Uche has frowned at the inability of the managers of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) led by the Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe to implement the collection of the Practitioners’ Operating Fee (POF) one month after commencement.
Uche who made his feelings known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday said that although the collection actually commenced, the council was not able to perfect the process and modalities for collection leaving the collection partially successful.
“For us, we know that the Minister gave the directive that the collection should start on the 1st of August and we were all eager to pay but we are waiting for the CRFFN to spell out clearly the procedure for payment”, he said.
When asked whether practitioners were paying the money since commencement of collection, he said,”I want to believe that those who understand the process are paying but for me, information reaching me and we have been trying to guide Jukwe the Registrar on the procedure that should be applied so as to enhance the collection. You don’t just ask people to go to a particular place to pay and when they get there, the process of doing it will be too cumbersome and they will find it very difficult.
On the lack of preparedness on the part of the CRFFN before announcing a commencement date, the NAGAFF boss added, “I am telling you that the managers of CRFFN are the problem of CRFFN. I want to categorically make that statement, until they put their house in order because there is nothing anybody can do to stop government policy from being implemented talk more of a government agency. When a Minister has given a directive and then the Registrar cannot implement it, what is stopping him? Where is the problem? We have given him all the support, who is his problem in the industry?
“I have told him personally that he should come, if collection is the problem, we will give him the simplest approach to it. We don’t need to interface, we don’t even need to talk about anything at the port, we have a transport document which is the bill of lading, that is the starting point of any business.
“Apart from the Form M you will open and then you will place order for your cargo, the next document is either the bill of lading or the air waybill, then we can control the payment through the bill of lading, the importer can even pay it without even waiting for the freight forwarders.
“Once you are having that bill of lading, before you exchange it for delivery order (DO), you should have paid. It is very simple that it doesn’t call for any hassle at all. So, I thought that there will be modality for shipping companies that before you exchange this bill of lading for delivery order, you must have seen a receipt from the CRFFN. So, in the effect that any bill of lading is exchanged for delivery order without that payment, then we will know who we should go and hold”.
However, all efforts made to get the reaction of the Registrar proved abortive as his lines did not go through as at the time of filing this report.
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