CRFFN Meets Key Stakeholders, Assures of Better Days Ahead
*Calls on freight forwarders to speak with one voice
* Sets up committees to identify operational issues at ports
By Francis Ugwoke
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Monday held crucial meeting with key industry stakeholders drawn from all the associations of freight forwarders and customs agents in the country.
Stakeholders who attended the meeting were members of the Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum Committee chaired by the Vice Chairman of the CRFFN, Chief Henry Njoku.
Addressing participants , the Chairman of CRFFN, Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar said the meeting was mainly to seek cooperation among practitioners for the interest of the industry.
Abubakar stressed the need to have leaders of thought in the industry who will rise to address all issues when they arise.
He said that rather than engaging one another in criticisms, the leaders of thought as members of the Consultative Forum should sit down in a round table to look for amicable solution.
“If we go wrong, call us and let us know so that there could be a solution. This Forum should be such that when there is anything wrong, we call ourselves to order”.
He also called for cooperation among members of various associations, adding that this will help in moving the industry forward.
Vice Chairman of CRFFN, Chief Njoku who briefed the press on the outcome of the Forum’s first meeting said the key resolution was that the CRFFN wants the Forum to carry all members along.
Njoku added that among the decision is for all members of CRFFN from different associations to work together as one family.
He also disclosed that the CRFFN leadership has taken a decision to look into all the difficulties freight forwarders face while doing their job in the ports.
He said the participants from different associations complained bitterly about the problems they face at the ports which the Council will address.
According to him, the Forum set up sub-committees to articulate all issues that freight forwarders face at the ports to be forwarded to the CRFFN for action.
Njoku who did not want to disclose specific issues raised during the meeting however said they were simply operational difficulties that practitioners face on daily basis while doing business at the ports.
He also said some of the issues were on regulatory matters.
In his address during the meeting, Njoku explained that the Consultative Committee was established by Act of Parliament to deepen and strengthen the duties of the freight forwarding Council.
He said the Committee is saddled with such responsibilities as: “Advising the Council as to the formulation of policies relating to freight forwarding practices in its ramifications;
“To carry out oversight functions on matters and programmes relating to the Forum, review and recommend to the Governing Council for proper articulation;
“To come up with ideas for the standardization of practices discipline, uniform charges and or any matter as may be referred to it by both the CRFFN and any other accredited association”.
Njoku said that to achieve this, freight forwarders must speak with one voice and act as one entity.
He added, “By oversight functions, I mean that the Committee has the duty to undertake any other delegated responsibility by the Governing Board.
This , he explained, is captured in the Act setting the Council.
“No doubt providence has placed on our shoulders the responsibility to answer this national call at a critical time of our dear nation. It is my prayer that we discharge ourselves of this mandate with ultimate devotion and diligence”, he said.
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