…As ANLCA President says we are too big to be hoodwinked
…Recounts association’s role in birthing CRFFN
Following the complaints from the freight forwarders on the cost of obtaining the Executive Professional Diploma certificate, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN has assured that it will soon address the cost of the Diploma for practitioners so as to encourage more participation and make the training pocket friendly.
The Acting Registrar of CRFFN, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta who disclosed this during a working visit to the National Secretariat of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA in Lagos yesterday, equally disclosed that the Council has FIATA approved Ordinary Diploma which cost less than the Executive Professional Diploma which she said freight forwarders could also take advantage of to improve themselves.
Uromta who promised to go back and take a second look at the cost of the training, however, reminded the members of ANLCA that while the cost of everything was increasing in the country, they should also bear in mind that the entire training fee was not going into the Council’s purse alone but was shared among the Council, the training institutions and the resource persons according to the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU signed.
According to her, “The people that are teaching these courses and the institutions are being paid and from where do we get the money to pay the resource persons? So, by the time you calculate and it is an MOU, CRFFN doesn’t take it all. The school that is offering it, the resource persons have their own percentages. CRFFN doesn’t have all the N350,000 that is being charged but we will still look into it.
“With what is happening in this dispensation, if we can enhance our revenue, we will be able to meet so many needs of our stakeholders, to update the curriculum and make available the cheaper ones so that it will be easier for everyone else to access. The high cost of training will be addressed as pointed out.”
She noted that on assumption of office as the Acting Registrar, she went through all that had to do with education and training, the courses, the syllabus and the curriculum, only to discove that some of the of the curriculum offered by the Council had became obsolete.
“And what did we do? We did a seven day update of our curriculum that has to do with Ordinary Diploma which is less costly than what we have and which I have come to know that not all of us know about it. All we know is the Executive Professional Diploma that is being offered in UNILAG and other institutions of higher learning. But there are other certificate courses that is less costly that all of us can avail ourselves of which have been updated in line with the FIATA curriculum.
“So, when I discovered that those courses, we have not meet that standard, the Director of Education and Training went for another assignment, but his staff is here to add to what I would say about education and training, the standard we are trying to raise is in line with FIATA standard. So, seven days update of the curriculum was done last year.
“So, the thirteen courses that have to do with the Ordinary Diplom, this is less, it’s not three hundred and anything, it’s about a hundred thousand naira that’s being taught by the tertiary institutions that have been accredited. We have over seventeen accredited tertiary institutions that offer all this which only publicity and aggressive awareness campaign can let us know, which the Council is about to launch. Let us know that we have all this things but the publicity has not been there.
“So, we were able to update and the people that FIATA trained, Nigerians that went through the TOT, trained others that are training people for this. We brought them and they updated this curriculum before December last year. We would have gone to revalidate because when you update, the next thing is to revalidate. If you don’t go to FIATA to obtain approval, you can’t use it. So, we now said that the money we have may not be enough for us to go and come back and do the higher diploma, so we suspended the trip to Belgium last year. for the revalidation of the curriculum we have updated.
“Next week, the trainers also are coming down to Abuja to update the Higher Diploma so that by the time we conclude on that, we have a congress abroad in April, and the other one is in September, whichever one we are able to meet, either the April or the September, we will now take both the Ordinary Diploma and Higher Diploma to FIATA to revalidate and every other person will have fresh courses that is in line with the standard by then, most of us must have known the tertiary institutions where you can go and get this professional certificate. That one is mainly for younger people while the other one is for managers we know, perhaps, can afford it but they don’t have time. That is why we made it a seven day course”, she stated.
Responding, the National President of ANLCA, Mr. Emenike Nwokeoji, while appreciating the Acting Registrar and her team for the visit, explained that the visit was mainly to re-establish and reinvigorate an existing relationship between the Council and the association.
Nwokeoji disclosed that the first (Governing) Council was formed by over 80 percent of members of ANLCA adding that the first (Governing) Council Chairman and the Second Council Chairman were from ANLCA. “CRFFN is ANLCA’s baby, personally, I know what it took me. When we were putting, in my office, because I just moved in to a new office, I stumbled into a draft of this Act where we made input we sent to the then Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, we hosted him in Port-Harcourt over this Act. I know what it took us until the time we went to the National Assembly to defend this Act.
“But the moment the thing came on stream, some people came like vultures to be whatever they have done. This (Ernest) Elochukwu, I am happy he is not here, I personally knew when Elochukwu cut his visit abroad, flew in to support CRFFN . The money Elochukwu spent, in hard currency, to get this bill passed through National Assembly. I saw it, I was there when it exchanged hands. But before you know it, people that never put one Kobo hijacked the place, there were billboards everywhere registering members.
“We took all the pains to renew our license, after renewal, we go to shipping companies, we register in each of the shipping companies every year, yet we have people claiming to be members of CRFFN, they have nobody they are accountable to, no license, no business registration, nothing, yet , we are being looked down on.
“I have not made any comment, we have all the facts, we will go in now, maybe one or two people should come with you, I need to ask my own questions because we are too big to be hoodwinked. I want to respect your person and your office, let us discuss one on one, maybe, it will help you to know that we appreciate what you are going through but we must let you know that whatever is inside there, that we are insiders there too.
“So, please, we welcome all of you, I appreciate members that were able to respond to this call. The worst thing that can happen to a man is when you look down on an organization like ANLCA, then it means you don’t want to move forward. Not in this industry where we are key players and operators.”
Photo 1: (L-R): Chief Ernest Elochukwu, former National President and member of the BOT, ANLCA, Mr. Emenike Nwokeoji, National President, ANLCA, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, Acting Registrar, CRFFN and Mrs, Adeyinka, Deputy Director, Administration, CRFFN during the visit in Lagos yesterday.
Photo 2. Photo: (L-R): Chief Ernest Elochukwu, former National President and member of BOT, ANLCA, Mr. Emenike Nwokeoji, National President of ANLCA and Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, Acting Registrar, CRFFN during the visit to ANLCA National Secretariat in Lagos yesterday.
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