…Acting Registrar says Lagos to remain operational
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN has requested the approval of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola to relocate its administrative headquarters to CRFFN Liaison Office Complex located at Life Camp, Abuja.
The Acting Registrar if the Council, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta who made the request recently in Lagos submitted that while Abuja should be used a the administrative headquarters, the Lagos office should be used as the operational headquarters with the Director, Regulation and Enforcement heading it.
Uromta argued that the present Council’s office space belonged to the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA insisting that the space available there was not suitable, conducive and grossly inadequate to house the staff.
She added that offices like the Accounts and Audit departments ought to be separate as a condition to maintain her self accounting status which the Accountant General of the Federation does not joke with as well as the current Lagos office does not provide for.
She further posited that “Most of the activities are done in Abuja, the FCT; the Senate, House of Reps, also the Accountant General of the Federation, Audit, all of them are there. So, most of the time, you come here and you don’t see me, it is not as if I am not on duty. It’s one call or the other, you might be coming back and you are called back that there’s an activity to attend to and it’s not wise. The spending is much because you need to take flight and you know what the fuel and diesel are.
“Again, it has become a matter of urgency as a result of our removal from the federal government’s budgetary allocation beginning from January 2024. All the money for flight and other logistics could be saved. We are talking about administrative headquarters, here (Lagos office) should still remain operational because our activities are much here. The Director, Regulation and Enforcement is to oversee the affairs here. We are not just saying that all of us should move to Abuja.
“In the spirit of prudent spending, we appeal that the CRFFN operational headquarters be in Lagos where we have the highest percentage of our stakeholders, freight forwarding practitioners. We are squatters here, NPA and Abuja MOU have been here before us. Instead of reverting to renting, our own accomodation in Abuja is befitting enough to house us.
“Honourable Minister sir, to avoid repeating ourselves, I wish to request that you also schedule a visit to see the Abuja Office Complex at your earliest convenience and see for yourself where we are and the space available there. Again, I want to reiterate that our issues are quick wins/low hanging achievement for the President Tinubu’s administration and by extension, the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry when the scorecard for your 30/60/100 days (in office) is rolled out.”
The Acting Registrar, however, assured the Minister of the readiness the Management and staff of the Council to advance the agenda of this administration in the emerging sector by developing a freight forwarding industry that is globally compliant and contributing to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
Photo: Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, Acting Registrar, CRFFN.
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