The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) ,has called on the federal government to reposition the Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) on the best way to commence the collection of Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) from practitioners.
President of NAGAFF ,Chief Increase Uche who stated this on Thursday in Lagos,lamented that the over heating system of POF collection has not help in the capacity building of practitioners in the sub sector of the maritime industry, noting that training of freight forwarders was key to the sector growth.
The NAGAFF boss reiterated that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) ,has what it takes to assist the council for the POF collection.
Uche, a member of the governing council of CRFFN, maintained that maritime agencies in the sector collect various levies on behalf of government without any form of disturbance , thus the council should not be an exception.
According to him, the position of CRFFN should fall in line with what is obtainable in other agencies like the NPA 7% rent or levy from vessels and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) collection of 3% surcharge on commercial vessels trading in the nation’s territorial waters and the collection of Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF).
He added that “For the sector to be toiled with, the fund that would develop the freight forwarding sub sector of the maritime industry has come under political undertone and it doesn’t make any sense.
“So what we are saying is why should this POF be a subject of discourse all this while.
” Practitioners are willing to pay and the only way payment can be made is to log in through a portal and make declaration and others is time wasting .
“We are calling on government to allow NPA create avenue to collect this POF at the port and it should be right from the source, whereby once the cargo lands, we should be able to key in and collect the monies through the same way other agencies of the government are collecting their own levies and fees because CRFFN is an agency of the government.
“The money is not meant for sharing but to build capacity for the practitioners and government must be serious about it.
According to him, the impediment and permutations on how to collect the POF did not meet with the requirements, pointing out that intervention from the federal government is the only way out on how the fee can be successfully collected by the council.
By Roland Ekama
