Freight Monitor
Freight Forwarders raise alarm over containers broaching at Apapa port examination bay
Eyewitness reporter
Freight Forwarders plying their trade at the Apapa port have expressed concerns over the alarming rate of container broaching and cargo theft at the Customs’ examinations bay at the APM Terminals, Apapa.
Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, the Co-ordinator of 100 percent compliance team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) who ventilated the aggregate feelings of concerned freight forwarders, enjoined all the stakeholders, especially the security agencies, to rise up and nip the rising threat in the bud before it escalates to unimaginable proportion.
Alhaji Tanko, who was briefing the press on the outcome of the security meeting he convened with the relevant agencies and other players in the industry, revealed a lot of anomalies that characterise the process of cargo examination at the Apapa port.
According to him, apart from losing their cargo to “wharf rats”, importers are also losing their goods to indiscriminate sampling by agencies at the ports.
“We are losing a lot of money as a result of sampling. Almost all the agencies, Customs, NDLEA, DSS, labour take samples while it is the duty of NAFDAC and SON that officially has the right to take sample items after which they are returned to their owners and there are procedures for sampling. This is what we are suffering here”, he lamented.
Tanko explained the covert ways port urchins pilfer cargo at the examination bay, especially those seized and kept by Customs.
“There are number of times the containers seized by Nigeria Customs Service, kept at the designated area, were broken by these wharf rats, carted away with the cargoes especially, banned substance like Tramadol” Tanko claimed.
“There is a need to reduce crowd at the Examination Bay.
“We observed that about 50 – 60 people sleep in APMT platform.
“One day, a freight forwarder was traced from the platform to his house and in the process, the police investigations showed the suspect was one of those who sleep on that platform.
“The APM Terminal is not a sleeping place nor a football field. Those doing that should stop
“Everybody has a role to play both the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Customs Service, NPA, DSS and others.
” APM Terminal are not the owners of the port, rather partners. Since the platform housing Customs offices now belong to Customs as I am made to understand, Customs should then take charge”, the NAGAFF National Vice-President, declared.
Tanko disclosed that all the stakeholders who attended the security meeting at the instance of the NAGAFF compliance team were unanimous in their determination to work together to stamp out the menace.
According to him, the Area Comptroller of Apapa command, Alhaji Ibrahim Yusuf Malanta, stated that his Command had already taken steps to reduce the crowd by introducing Customs permit tag for Customs examination officers.
Malanta, according to Tanko, added that Customs officers who are to conduct examinations of containers cannot access the bay without the tag which will have the officers’ picture and name.
The Customs’ helmsman reportedly said the command had also created tags for clearing agents whose consignments had been positioned for examination, as well as placed enforcement officers to secure the platform.
Also speaking at the security meeting, the Chief Security Officer (CSO), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who represented the agency, on his part, reportedly reiterated the need for proper and effective issuance of the permit as well as calling for the setting up of Joint Security Night Patrol which will involve Customs, Police and Compliance Team to fish out the criminals.
The President-General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN), Adewale Adeyanju through his representative, reportedly lauded the initiative of the NAGAFF compliance team but however blamed the security agents for the security lapses at the port.
The Port Police, on their part, was said to have denied any knowledge of the incidents, claiming no report had been formerly brought to their knowledge.
The police representative however commended Tanko for the laudable initiative and assured of the readiness of the port police to swing into action in a bid to curb the rising security threat.
Those who attended the meeting included The CAC, Apapa Command, Controller Yusuf Malanta, The Port Police Commissioner,
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) represented by the Chief Security Officer, The DSS, Mekura, the Contractor of Labour, the President Of Maritime Labour, APMT, NAGAFF, AREFFN, while ANLCA, Council of Managing Directors were absent.
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Freight Monitor
Stakeholder calls out Amaechi to account for millions of Naira in remittances made by freight forwarders under CRFFN.
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Eyewitness reporter
As Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation is intensifying his campaign to be the next President of Nigeria, an aggrieved stakeholder in the maritime industry, Segun Musa, has called the APC presidential aspirant out to account for millions of naira remitted by Freight Forwarders under the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding practice in Nigeria(CRFFN) which is under the supervision of his ministry.
Musa, a frontline freight forwarder and former Chairman of the Airport chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), claimed that freight forwarders, since the inception of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN) in 2007 and as stipulated by the Council Act, have been making annual remittances to the Federal Government through the ministry of Transportation in terms of annual dues and membership subscriptions of the CRFFN,
The concerned stakeholder further alleged that these monies, which have run into several millions of naira, are yet to be accounted for.
Musa further alleged that the amount accrued from the remittances made by freight forwarding companies and individual freight forwarders, may have been mismanaged, hence his call for accountability.
“We are soliciting the support of all well-meaning Nigerians and other stakeholders to call on the Ministry of Transportation to respect the FOI Act and give details of total collections from individual and corporate annual dues from the inception of the CRFFN Act and explain how it has been utilised as well as the law that backed up the usage.
“The critical stakeholders in the transport subsector are suspicious of possible mismanagement of the public funds tagged (annual dues) contributed by freight forwarders into the coffers of the Federal Government under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation.
“The reports in circulation indicate that the Ministry of Transportation has mismanaged hundreds of millions in naira so far contributed by freight forwarders as the stipulated dues in line with the Act that established the CRFFN from their income aside from statutory taxes deductibles.
“The law compelled every freight forwarding company to pay a stipulated amount as dues annually as well as every individual staff of the companies to remain in practice.
“Despite the inconvenience due to the global economic meltdown and slowdowns in business as well as the biting inflation impacts, members of the freight forwarding industry complied with the directives as enshrined in the law” he noted.
Musa expressed regret that despite the statutory obligations of the CRFFN board to use this amount accrued from the annual dues and subscription to train freight forwarders, all the training so far organised by the Council were fully paid for by freight forwarders themselves except very few that were free.
“It is sad to note that the essence of compliance is due to the fact that the revenues pool would be deployed to build members’ capacity to meet global standards and position them to participate in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
“It is most unfortunate that all the training organised so far were paid for in full by stakeholders aside from few that came as free” he declared.
Musa, therefore, expressed reservation over the collection of the controversial Practitioner Operating Fee(POF) made compulsory to be paid by freight forwarders and sanctioned by the Ministry of Transportation despite several millions of annual remittances that are yet to be accounted for.
“The alleged mismanagement of public funds contributed by freight forwarders came as a result of the same Ministry of Transportation that has not accounted for the hundreds of millions in naira contributed so far aside government allocations and subvention, now demanding for revenues from every imported shipment into the country tagged Practitioner Operating Fee (POF).
“This simply means regardless of membership annual subscriptions or dues paid, aside the Customs license renewed with lots of money, aside customs duties, shipping companies charges and terminal charges, you will still have to pay something similar to customs duty to the Ministry of Transport before imported goods will be allowed to exit the ports”
The NAGAFF chieftain, while lamenting the plethora of charges imposed on freight forwarders in a stifling economy, said this has made Nigerian ports non- user friendly .
“This is the kind of policy that has made our ports not to be business-friendly and has been encouraging manufacturers to exit our country as well forcing importers to patronise the neighboring ports.
“This policy is not only strange to International best practices but also strange to any economic ideology targeted at adding any kind of values to any sector of the economy.
“We hereby implore our strategic partners to help in calling out the Honorable Minister for Transportation to come and account for what we have contributed to the pool under his supervision, how it has been utilised and as a matter of responsibility, jettison the idea of POF because it is an intellectual fraud targeted to further impoverish the innocent Nigerians” Musa further alleged,
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Freight Monitor
Ameachi inaugurates 4th CRFFN board amidst muffled complaints over imposition of principal officers
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Eyewitness reporter
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Wednesday inaugurated the fourth governing board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN).
The 32- members governing board was inaugurated in a low-key manner devoid of any funfair.
An insider source whispered to our reporter that Ameachi, who seemed to had already made up his mind on the principal officers who will pilot the affairs of the council, rushed the process which returned the erstwhile chairman and the Vice Chairman of the now-dissolved 3rd governing board unopposed.
“There was no election. The Minister just sauntered into the conference room of the ministry and said that he would not spend more than one minute with us.
“After that, he asked us if we wanted the status quo to remain, to which we all chorused in the affirmative.
” So the former Chairman, Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar was returned unopposed while his former Deputy in the last board, Chief Henry Njoku, was also returned unopposed as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the new board respectively.
“He didn’t just give us any chance to make our own choice, the Minister merely stampeded us.
“That man cannot be the President of Nigeria. He is too dictatorial” a member of the new board who did not want his name in print for fear of reprisal action, lamented.
However, Kayode Farinto, the Acting President of the National Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and a member of the new board, told our reporter that the Minister was merely exercising his right as enshrined in section six of the CRFFN act which gives him the power to direct.
“It was that power to direct he relied on .”
When asked why nobody could challenge the imposition of the principal officers, especially the chairman who was not an elected but selected member, Farinto said no one was qualified to vie against him.
“Even, if we, the elected members, decided to run against him in an election, don’t forget that the government selected members are more than us who were elected.
” While we are 15, the selected members are 17 and that put them at an advantage”.
The Minister however told the members of the board that they would be invited at a later date for the ceremonial aspect of the inauguration.
With the Wednesday inauguration, the fourth governing board of the CRFFN has officially taken off and was told to hit the ground running.
15 freight forwarders were elected into the council during the March elections which took place in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt on 9th March 2022 while 17 members were selected by the government from different agencies to make up the 32- member governing board.
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Freight Monitor
Farinto urges Customs brokers to mobilise 5m votes for presidential candidate who is freight forwarders- friendly
Eyewitness reporter
Kayode Farinto, the Acting President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has enjoined freight forwarders to use their votes to bring in a government that has a passion for the welfare of freight forwarders in Nigeria.
The ANLCA chieftain made this call Monday in his May Day/ Sallah message to the freight forwarders confraternity.
Farinto, who bemoaned the harassment and intimidation the freight forwarders are being subjected to under the outgoing government in terms of multiple charges, levies and extortions, urged the oppressed customs brokers to use their PVCs to bring in a presidential candidate who will end the misery and sufferings of freight forwarders.
Consequently, he asked that the freight forwarders should mobilise at least five million votes in the maritime industry for a presidential candidate among the legion of contenders who will work for the welfare of customs brokers.
“The inconsistency in government policies is an eye-opener and we will enjoin our members to give the over five million votes in the industry to a presidential candidate that will be explicit on how to assist the Freight forwarding profession viz a viz implementation of people’s welfare policies their support and endorsements come 2023.
Farinto said the present government has shown a lack of empathy for the suffering and harassed freight forwarders who are even overburdened with all manner of charges in the face of an economic crunch.
“We won’t allow anyone to fool us like this outgoing government is doing.
“We are gradually losing our profession to foreign domination courtesy of lack of law that will protect indigenous practitioners”, he lamented.
While urging the freight forwarders to brace up for the reintroduction of the revised Vehicles Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy this month, the ANLCA Chief warned them to be on their guard against people who may wish to compromise the process to the detriment of freight forwarders.
“Let me commence by saying that, it is obvious that the NCS will be implementing the VIN VALUATION this month, going by the news filtering around us in the industry and we need to monitor this because people will not want the process to be successful may introduce things outside our agreement into the procedures”
“I have released the agreed procedures on clearance of Standard Chassis vehicles that fall within VIN valuation and Non-Standard chassis vehicles,salvage, and accidented vehicles a few days ago.
“We need to allow these new changes going by all we go through in the hands of customs various units to clear vehicles in the ports”
He recounted the horrific process of a clearance procedure, especially of vehicles, which he said is laced with extortions by the Customs
“Even when you take your valuation, many alerts are put on our declarations and it takes the grace of God and difficult conditions to get them out of the ports.
“As if that is not enough, you need to know the numbers of calls we receive from our members delivering these vehicles within and outside the Lagos environment.
“Many customs units will say, your values are compromised, it must be jacked up and many of us are at their mercies pleading that DN should not be issued on already exited vehicles.
“This and many more things are what we believe The VIN valuation will eliminate.
“Many agents have been given forged and mutilated valuation papers by the third parties and are left to suffer the consequences of whatever happens.
“We do not need all this to get our vehicles released and we promise to challenge any command that may want to use the office of monitoring to extort money from our members when this new process commences.
The ANLCA Acting President also promised that the controversial issue of the National Automotive Council (NAC) 15 percent level will be pursued to its logical conclusion through the involvement of the national assembly and the instrumentality of the soon to be inaugurated Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN).
“The issue of 15 percent NAC turn levy will be pursued vigorously immediately after the Sallah break
because we will engage the National Assembly on the need for them to know that, this government is not sensitive to the plight of the masses to have introduced a levy at this period when the economy is in comatose.
” And we will also ensure that the Federal Ministry of Finance is dragged before the people’s representatives on this matter.
“Since the CRFFN governing council may also be inaugurated this week, it will be our first issue to be raised at the plenary which needs urgent national attention.
“All our efforts to eliminate NAC turn levy is being done in collaboration with the motor dealers association”
Farinto however said that before these lofty objectives of the leadership of the freight forwarders could be achieved, the members of the confraternity must be united to achieve their common goal.
“We must however come together to achieve greatness. An injury to one should be an injury to all” he declared.
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