National President Association of Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu has said that ongoing moves by the National Assembly to amend the Act establishing the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) will fail without inputs from critical stakeholders like licensed customs agents and freight forwarders. He expressed this view at an award night for freight forwarders in Lagos. He said the act would be dead on arrival if the law makers decide to go ahead without consulting widely with operators whose jobs will be impacted by the amended law.
According to him options are open to freight forwarders to continue in their business under another guise without being regulated or stopped by the CRFFN, if the lawmakers ignore calls for consultations. He said the CRFFN is far from achieving the reasons why it was established while expressing optimism that ANLCA’s synergy with National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) will make the council work better. Shittu averred that freight forwarding practice in Nigeria should be focused on exports and take a cue from countries like India, Singapore and Malaysia.
Th e ANLCA boss said, Chief Executive Offi cer of Maritime Media Limited, Elder Asu Beks had also in his remarks described the freight forwarders as critical components of the total logistics chain who add value to the good and growth of the economy. He described them as people whose business activities are catalysts to other sectors ranging from manufacturing, importation, exportation and increased professionalism. Th e federal government was recently alleged to have inserted amendments that requires the president to appoint a chairman of CRFFN contrary to the expectations of the council to be a private sector driven organisation
