Commentaries
POF: An instrument of oppression, impoverishment
By Segun Musa The CRFFN Board and our amiable Honorable Minister of Transport need to task their brains on creating a sustainable genuine economy that would fund this agency if the Federal government does not have the capacity for funding, instead of taxing the already overtaxed citizens. POF is nothing but an instrument to further impoverished our young struggling practitioners. Interestingly, I am the architect of the birth of this nomenclature during the days of misunderstandings between my association and a sister association at the airport on how to mutually enhance fair sharing to benefits our members contributing from proceeds of their hard-earned incomes from their daily jobs to the association’s pool account at the airport. Anybody having a contrary idea of how this came into the limelight should come out and give details. When the CRFFN, through the POF sponsors that thought of taking our members’ contributions to the board for fair sharing would be the solution, I resisted it because the government does not share revenue proceeds with any private sectors and whoever is advocating to gazette such is only deceiving you because it would never last if at all you are able to jump-start it. I would like to use the airport as a case study. Our members contributed token voluntarily out of their hard-earned profits to save for rainy days to the association’s pool. Interestingly, we have independent members and some multinationals that do not contribute because it is voluntary with no compulsion. While serving as a Chairman at the airport, I pulled out my association from the arrangement and stopped the collections as a protest and all this is to justify that the arrangement is nothing but voluntary. The essence of this arrangement is to ensure that members in need can get adequate supports from the pool they had contributed or contributing to when they had the opportunity at the time/points of needs The same way governments of most viable countries of the world do support their working citizens when they are out of work to cater for a few of their immediate urgent needs. This is not to justify that all leaders managing the funds always do justice to the disbursements Unfortunately, few individuals out of self-interest decided to use the strength of the Federal government to hijack public voluntary contributions without minding what becomes of the contributors at the end of the day nor thinking of what becomes of the associations with this great lofty idea, especially during the painful time of needs? It is on records that only at the airport that we do not carry exercise books around begging for assistance at the point of emergency because we have proactive leaders managing the pool effectively on behalf of their members. I am not unaware that some Freight forwarders at the Seaports who have not put similar measures in place might not be able to comprehend or feel the pains of few stakeholders that have selflessly put this system in place at the airport for the benefits of members. I think that seems to be the singular reason why some of them are in full support of the fraudulent POF collection. I singularly believe it is better for associations to work with their feeder cadres at chapter levels to generate more voluntary contributions for the benefits of their associations and their members than allowing the government to legitimise illegality and hijack little efforts from the chapters just because of sweet promises that would never come to reality (speaking from experiences in engagements with the government) The brain behind the formation of CRFFN Is to gather think-tank groups in the holistic freight transport businesses which include all cluster groups like shipping liners, transporters, freight forwarders, supply chain managers, terminal operators, customs brokers, maritime lawyers, airliners, aviation ground handlers, GSAs, Vessel charterers, Vessel Owners, Courier operators and all other relevant operators to developed framework ingredients on documents guided by the established articles of the CRFFN Act to enhance knowledge acquisition, professionalism, promotions of high ethical standards in business and profession, fostering synergies amongst players and above all to elevate Nigeria to the high level of global best practices and standards in the committee of nations. With the aforementioned, where does tax collection comes in? I have painfully listened to few self-centered individuals trying to smuggle out or twist some articles of the CRFFN Act to mean collections of tax for the government for the purpose of financing budgets and it is most unfortunate how people blackmail our government as an insensitive regime. This is not only shameful for private business people that should be concentrating on their core competencies rather than devoting their precious time looking for how the government would take advantage of already over-taxed citizens to steal from them again just for a token commission. If CRFFN has lost relevance and felt that the only way to survive is to tax members rather than task their brains, I would gladly like to be the first person to move for the cancellation of this Council if we can not ensure we put like-minds in the board with full knowledge of what the CRFFN Act stands to achieved as a primary priority and stop this misplacement of priority. I can not ignore some great members of the CRFFN Board and some Management staff who are doing wonderfully well to carry on the crusade of professionalism despite all odds and especially lack of sufficient funding from the federal government. These great minds are definitely not on the same page with few who are trying to use the platform to exploit innocent citizens that do not know their rights. Once again, any terminal or warehouse operator that stops the operations of freight forwarders at any gateway would not only pay for damages but would also be blackmailed globally. Why we await our amiable Honorable Minister of Transport and his colleagues Hon. Minister of Finance, Auditor General of the Federation and Attorney General of the federation who were allegedly said to have promoted, sponsored, prepared and endorsed the RED Gazette to enforce fraudulent revenue collections to come and defend the insensitive gazette publicly, we can call on all our critical stakeholders to see this collection as wishful thinking. Segun Musa is a politician, notable freight forwarder and public commentator
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Commentaries
The 150 percent increase in Seafarers’ wages: Can NIMASA break foreign stranglehold on Nigeria’s waters?
The Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru
During the recent Day of the Seafarer celebrations, a major policy bombshell dropped that sent shockwaves through the maritime industry.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) announced a massive 150% wage increase for local seafarers.
By integrating international maritime standards into local contracts, the government is finally attempting to address a long-standing injustice: the systemic underpayment of the men and women who keep our maritime trade afloat.
On paper, it looks like an incredible victory for labour and a massive step forward for the thousands of young cadets who have gone through the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
But as any seasoned observer of Nigerian policy knows, a wage increase on paper means absolutely nothing if you do not possess a job to earn it.
The uncomfortable reality is that a 150% salary boost is completely useless if local shipping companies are priced out of the market, or if foreign vessels continue to dominate our territorial waters.
Nigeria passed the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act way back in 2003 with a very clear, patriotic objective: domestic coastal trade was supposed to be reserved strictly for Nigerian-owned, Nigerian-built, and Nigerian-crewed vessels.
It was designed to build local capacity and ensure that our wealth stayed within our borders.
Yet, over two decades later, the spirit of that law is routinely violated every single day. The maritime sector has structural friction that cannot be solved by simply adjusting a salary scale.
The biggest culprit here is the infamous cabotage waiver system. For years, international shipping lines have exploited regulatory loopholes to secure endless ministerial waivers.
These waivers allow foreign-flagged ships with entirely foreign crews to operate freely in our domestic waters, moving cargo between Lagos, Onne, and Port Harcourt.
They claim that local capacity does not exist, using that excuse to completely bypass local seafarers. As a result, highly qualified Nigerian captains, engineers, and cadets are left stranded on shore, watching foreign mariners take the jobs that legally belong to citizens.
This creates a brutal, double-edged sword for the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and the leadership at NIMASA. If they strictly enforce the new 150% wage scale without aggressively shutting down the illegal waiver pipeline, they will accidentally make Nigerian seafarers even less competitive.
Foreign shipowners will simply argue that local labour has become too expensive, giving them more incentive to lobby for waivers and bring in their own crews.
If this modernization plan is going to be anything more than a political talking point, the government must find the raw regulatory spine to enforce the law.
Enforcement is where our institutional bottlenecks always lie. It is easy to hold a press conference and celebrate a new minimum wage agreement.
It is an entirely different ballgame to deploy interceptor boats, audit shipping manifests, and fine multi-national shipping giants that refuse to hire local mariners.
The stakes are far too high for half-measures. We are currently trying to reposition Nigeria as the dominant maritime hub for West Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
You cannot build a maritime empire by relying exclusively on foreign labour and foreign capital.
A 150 percent raise is a beautiful, necessary acknowledgment of the value of our seafarers. But the real test of this policy will not be judged by the signatures on the new collective bargaining agreement.
It will be decided by whether the government possesses the political will to completely crush the waiver cartel, protect local shipping lines, and ensure that when a vessel sails through Nigerian waters, it is a Nigerian hand resting on the helm.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru,a Public Affairs analyst,writes from Abuja
Commentaries
The NIMASA claim of 150 percent salary raise for Nigerian Seafarers : A fiction or reality?
The Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru focuses on NIMASA’s claim of a massive 150 percent wage increase for local seafarers which sounds like an incredible milestone for Nigerian maritime labour.
But a higher salary scale means absolutely nothing if you do not possess a job to earn it.
Dropping tomorrow morning, July 6th, 2025, we go behind the celebratory headlines to look at the brutal policy war over the Cabotage Act, the illegal waiver cartels, and why qualified Nigerian mariners are still being left stranded on shore while foreign crews dominate our territorial waters.
Don’t miss “The 150% Raise: can NIMASA break the foreign stranglehold on Nigeria’s Waters?”
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