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Freight Monitor

CRFFN to deregister non-certificated freight forwarders

CRFFN, Registrar, Barrister Samuel Nwakohu,

 

— as it celebrates about 500 graduating logistics providers

 

Eyewitness reporter

The Council For The Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN) is set to wield the big stick on the freight forwarders who fail to get the minimum educational requirement to practice in the freight forwarding and logistics supply industry in Nigeria.

To this end, the Council has reiterated its warning that any freight forwarder who is not certificated in the freight forwarding and logistics practice would be deregistered by December 2021.

The Registrar of the Council, Barrister Samuel Nwakohu, who dropped the hint yesterday, said that any freight forwarder deregistered on account of non-certification will be barred from practising in any of the Nigerian ports as the activities of such person would be declared illegal.

Barrister Nwakohu, who was speaking to Journalists at the Lagos office of the council, however, said he has the discretionary powers to extend the date depending on the circumstance that subsists at that time.

”By December, this year, any freight forwarder who does not have the specified requirement, we shall consider stopping such person from practising.

”However, I have a discretion I may exercise, having regard to the circumstance, to extend the time to acquire the required educational qualifications”, Barrister Nwakohu declared.

Meanwhile, preparations are in top gear by the Council to organise a maiden graduation ceremony for freight forwarders who have acquired various educational proficiencies in freight forwarding and logistics supply.

According to Mr. Alban Igwe, the Director of Education and Training, CRFFN, about 500 freight forwarders who have completed their training at various accredited educational institutions in the country, would participate in the graduation ceremony which comes on Saturday, November, 27th, 2021, at the Tayo Aderinokun Lecture theatre, University of Lagos.

Giving details of the long journey that eventually culminated in the grand ceremony on Saturday, Igwe said that as part of the core mandate of the Council to sanitise the freight forwarding practice and educate the practitioners in the modern art of the profession, the Council commenced the process in 2012 by getting international accreditation of the Federation International of Freight Forwarding Association (FIATA).

After this, he said the Council sponsored 236 persons to the Train-the-Trainers programme at FIATA, adding that some of Saturday’s graduates are the products of these specially trained people.

“We achieved this milestone at a great cost to the Council and in our desire to fulfill the mandate given to us as a Council”  Igwe stated.

He explained further that in furtherance of this objective, the Council initially accredited one educational institution in each of the six geo-political zones of the country to train the freight forwarders in Certificate courses, Diploma Courses, and Higher Diploma courses.

However, as time went on, the numbers of the accredited institutions were expanded to 16 in the country where the Customs brokers could avail themselves the opportunity to update their knowledge on the modern trend in freight forwarding practice.

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Freight Monitor

Major industry stakeholders shun ANLCA’s NECOM inauguration

The Eyewitness Reporter 
Apparently pissed off by the protracted crisis that had made the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) a laughing stock in the maritime industry in the last five years, major industry stakeholders stayed away from the inauguration of the new National Executive Council of the association.
The new NECOM, headed by Emenike Nwokeoji, was inaugurated Thursday, November 23rd, 2023 at Marcellina Place on Isaac John Street, Ikeja.
Despite the hyped nature of the event with a vaunted grade A list of invited stakeholders, most of the stakeholders whose names were flaunted at the pre-event press conference shunned the inauguration ceremony.
Top on the list of the invited guest who didn’t honour the invitation was Wale Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of Customs, who was said to have indicated his intention to personally attend.
“Already, the Customs Comptroller General has given us his word that he would be coming personally for the inauguration” the Special Assistant to the ANLCA President on Media, Alhaji Ayokunle Sulaiman, had boasted a few days before the event.
Adeniyi sent ACG Jibo Mohammed, Zonal Coorinator, Zone A, Lagos.
Curiously, none of the heads of the agencies of government in the maritime industry such as the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers’Council Council, Council of Registered Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN) showed up nor sent their representatives.
More instructive was the absence of the CRFFN which is the regulatory agency for the freight forwarding industry to which ANLCA belongs.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, neither came nor sent a representative.
The mass boycott of the event by the notable industry players was despite the hype to which the organizers had subjected the expected attendance of these critical stakeholders.
“The industry bigwigs, which included the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, the Comptroller General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohamed Bello-Koko, all indicated their interest to attend” Alhaji Ayokunle Sulaiman had further declared before the event.
More instructive is the absence of some of the past Presidents of the Association whose attendance would have further boosted the event.
An eyewitness account has it that apart from three past leaders of ANLCA such as Prince Shittu Olayiwola, Alhaji Innua Mohammed and understandably, Chief Ernest Elochukwu, others stayed away without sending representatives.
This was despite their hyped expected attendance.
“Also, past presidents of ANLCA and past Board of Trustees Chairmen will be in attendance” Alhaji Ayokunle Sulaiman had declared prior to the event.
Most of the terminal operators, who have business nexus with the freight forwarders, were also not keen to attend the hyped event.
Apart from Grimaldi, operators of PTML and ENL, which sent junior representatives, others like PTML, Ports and Cargos, Five Stars Logistics, and Tin Can Island Port terminal all stayed away.
For inexplicable reasons, sister freight forwarding groups, who are among the five registered freight forwarding associations with the CRFFN, also stayed away, except the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) whose President was in attendance.
However, according to eyewitness reports, what the event lacked in attendance of key industry stakeholders, it gained in the massive presence of the ANLCA members who thronged the venue apparently due to long years of being starved of such air of conviviality as a result of the long- drawn crisis in ANLCA.
Stakeholders however believed that the absence of key industry stakeholders at the ANLCA event despite their due invitation and consultation is a sign of delibitating confidence of this important stock in the industry due to the long years of factional war in the association.
They however urged the Emenike Nwokeoji-led executive council to work assiduously in order to restore the fading glory of ANLCA.
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Freight Monitor

ANLCA’s new NECOM craves attendance of industry stakeholders at inauguration 

The Eyewitness Reporter
The Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is set to officially inaugurate its newly elected National Executive Council led by Emenike Nwokeoji in a grand ceremony slated for Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, November 24th, 2023.
According to the statement issued by the Special Assistant to the ANLCA President on Media, Alhaji Ayokunle Sulaiman, industry bigwigs, which included the minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, the Comptroller General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi, the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohamed Bello- Koko, the former Executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’Council, Barrister Hassan Bello, who is billed to give the inauguration lecture, were expected to grace the occasion.
Alhaji Sulaiman disclosed that the association has set up a 13-man planning committee, headed by  Hajia Bola Muse,  to steer the event.
Hajia Muse is the Financial Secretary of the association. Other members of the planning Committee include; ANLCA Airport Chairman, Bangalore Adewusi, Western Zonal Coordinator, Femi Anifowose, Comrade Joe Sanni and Alhaji Ayo Sulaiman who is the Secretary of the Committee.
Speaking, he said “Stakeholders in the maritime and aviation sector have been invited, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy is expected, some of our Royal fathers including His Royal Highness, Oba Adegboruwa Igbobo, HRM Sekunmade of Ebute in Ikorodu among others.
“Also, past presidents of ANLCA and past Board of Trustees Chairmen will be in attendance”
“Already, the Customs Comptroller General has given us his word that he  would be coming personally for the inauguration”
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Freight Monitor

AMATO laments high level of corruption in cargo delivery system at ports, as it hosts international anti-corruption group

The Eyewitness Reporter
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) has lamented a high level of corruption in the cargo value chain at the Nigerian Ports.
Remi Ogungbemile, the Chairman of the group, who made the allegation while playing host to the international anti- Corruption group, Siemens Integrity Initiative at the association’s office Thursday, November 3rd, 2023, alleged that the existence of multiple checkpoints, extortion, slow terminals operations, touting and disunity in Customs operations often lead to confiscation of trucks after being duly cleared by Customs officials at the ports.
 A delegation of Siemens Integrity Initiative, an International anti-corruption group that was on an evaluation of the impact of anti-corruption initiatives in the Nigerian ports environment, has paid a courtesy visit to the head office of AMATO.
Siemens Internal Initiative has provided funding since 2010 to anti-corruption agencies with the vision of ensuring a corruption-free environment for businesses and corporations around the world.
Through an external assessor, Nordic Consulting Group (NCG) Copenhagen, Siemens visited to assess the level of compliance with standard business processes and the impact of anti-corruption groups in combating the menace of corruption within the Nigerian port business environment.
AMATO Chairperson, Mr. Remi Ogungbemi, who received the delegation along with members of AMATO and sister associations, thanked the group for their unwavering effort in supporting the cause of the Nigerian port industry and truckers in particular to provide a platform for profitability and sustainability of the maritime transport business space.
Ogungbemi stated that together with Siemens, while anti-corruption groups like Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and Convention on Business Integrity (CBI), are leaders in championing the cause of restoring sanity to Nigeria’s maritime industry, much work still remains to be done.
Giving a vote of confidence on  MACN and CBI, he noted that their campaigns have led to the free movement of cargo in the outbound section of the ports’ access.
He called for a review of the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) mandate to enable it to cover the inbound section of the port access roads where extortion of truckers and the existence of multiple barriers to trade hampers ease of doing business and seamless evacuation of cargoes from the ports.
He also called for an increase in human resources to tackle the menace head-on and financial support to accelerate the process of nipping the problems in the bud.
On their part, Private Sector Development & Partnership Experts Nordic Consulting, Mrs. Marie-Louis Appelquist, and Evaluation and Governance Expert Nordic Consulting, Mrs. Ayla Olesen Yurtaslan, took note of issues raised by the truckers and promised to escalate to relevant authorities through the Maritime Anti-Corruption alliance  MACN/CBI for responsive actions.
AMATO presented merit awards to Mr. Vivek Menon of MACN; Mr. Soji Apampa, the Co-founder and CEO of CBI; and Mr. Moses Fadipe, the National Coordinator of PSTT for their collective fight against corruption in the Nigerian maritime industry.
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