Freight forwarders want CEMA, CRFFN Acts harmonized

Freight forwarders under the umbrella of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), have urged the federal government to harmonize the Customs and Excise Management Act with the council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Act.
To this end, they have written to the minister of finance, Dr.(Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the minister of transport, Senator Idris Umar to set up a joint technical committee to harmonize the two Acts.
In the letter, the association said sections 153, 154, 155, 156 of the Customs Management Act and its code need to be harmonized with the application of Section 19(a & b) of CRFFN Act.
The freight forwarders argued that “Whereas the Customs law recognizes corporate bodies licensed by Customs, primarily the CRFFN laid emphasis on individuals whose name appear in the register of freight forwarding.”
“These two legislative instruments appear to be in conflict because CEMA may not have recognized the nomenclature of freight forwarding practice but licensed customs agents and importers/exporters,” argued the letter signed by the secretary-general of NAGAFF, Mr. Increase Uche. The group maintained that “freight forwarding as a profession may not materialize in reality and practice if CEMA and CRFFN operators do not seat down to harmonize positions.”
“There is no doubt that the difficulties CRFFN may be having to take off effectively for the past four years may be associated to licensing regulation of the Customs.  Whereas the freight forwarders as professionals do not require Customs license to practice, the Nigeria
Customs may not be prepared to accept any declaration made to it by a freight forwarder whose name appeared in the register of freight forwarding in Nigeria.  This is the dark spot and conflict zone,” the group further argued.