…Says CRFFN Registrar should proceed on terminal leave
Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, APFFLON, has called for reformation of the freight forwarding industry as against the focus on accreditation.
APFFLON also said that the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, Barr. Samuel Nwakohu whose tenure will end in February 2023 should have proceeded on terminal leave by now.
The National President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, said these at a roundtable event orgainsed by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, MARAN in Lagos.
His words: “We had a meeting sometimes ago and the purpose of the meeting was for the reformation in the industry. We had issues with the CRFFN in the court and we have started the process for out of court settlement based on the response that things we want should be done in the Council.
“APFFLON found that a lot of people have violated the Council’s Act. For instance, it is in Section 19 of CRFFN Act, that if you do not pay your subscription within six months, you should be deregistered. We found that so many associations did not pay for years, and they have not been deregistered.
“For God’s sake, we are not in animal farm. It is people who claim to be accredited and you have an issue which is supposed to be addressed by the Council and you went to court, which automatically earn you expulsion and it is not being done. Then you want the Council to be effective when people are violating the Act.
“There is an issue that need to be addressed, for instance, the Registrar is suppose to be leaving the Council because this is his 4th year, he is suppose to have proceeded on terminal leave to hand over, while there is suppose to be vacancies for the next Registrar but we do not know the collaboration between the Permanent Secretary and the Registrar that they are keeping them.
“There are a lot of allegations against the Registrar, we did not see the outcome; we are just incommunicado. So, it is not accreditation that matters to APFFLON but reformation of the industry, we want to be proud of our industry.
“We can rate those that have been accredited, what are their achievements? What are they doing? Accreditation is little to APFFLON, what is important is reformations. His tenure is ending, he should proceed on terminal leave, we need reformation and we want the Council to work. We are ashamed to present our Council with other Councils like the lawyers, engineers etc.
“Look at the issue of International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association, FIATA, how can the Council be representing us in FIATA? It is never done; it is suppose to be an umbrella for all the freight forwarders that should be representing us at FIATA. There is an extent to which professionals can make decision in the Council because government has half and we have half. So, how do we agree to disagree? So the issue for APFFLON is reformation of the industry.
“There is no accredited association in this country because all of them are not competent to be accredited. Some of them have not paid their subscriptions and the Act says if you do not pay your subscriptions, you will be deregistered. The only qualified association for accreditation is APFFLON.
“APFFLON is over qualified, we have over 1,000 members, we are up to date. Some of them are inactive except APFFLON.”
Photo: Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, President, APFFLON during the roundtable organized by the Maritime Reporters’Association of Nigeria, MARAN in Lagos on Thursday.
Photo 2: Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, President, APFFLON with members of MARAN shortly after the roundtable organized by the association in Lagos on Thursday.
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