Aniebonam: Hold CRFFN Responsible for Failure in Collection of POF at Ports
*As Registrar says COVID-19 delaying collectionFounder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has blamed the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) for the failure in the collection of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) at the ports.
Aniebonam said the Council has all the powers of enforcement to collect the fees which it has failed to deploy.
Noting that some individuals have already vowed not to pay the POF, the founder expressed surprise on whether such practitioners were above the law.
“Nobody has the powers to stop the CRFFN from collecting the POF. Are we in a Banana Republic. CRFFN is an agency of government and no human being can stop it from carrying out its function otherwise the government will not function, so they (CRFFN management/Board) should know what is their problem. NAGAFF cannot stop CRFFN from the collection of POF, ANLCA cannot, no association can. So they know what is holding them”, he told SHIPPING DAY.
Aniebonam said those in charge of CRFFN should understand the statutory responsibilities of the agency as enshrined in the Act, insisting that they were the ones stopping themselves from the collection.
He added that though his association went to court, it was not against the collection of the POF but on interpretation of some sections of the Act.
He also added that some other people went to court but this should not stop the Council from doing its work unless there is a clear court injunction to that effect.
However, speaking to SHIPPING DAY on the issue, the CRFFN Registrar, Bar Mike Nwakohu explained that the delay in the collection of POF was due to the coronavirus lockdown in the country.
Nwakohu said the Council was busy carrying out sensitization programmes at the ports on how to check the spread the COVID-19 pandemic that it did not think of POF collection.
He said it would have been insensitive to talk of the POF collection at such a critical time of the COVID-19.
But he added that now that everybody is gradually getting back to work, it will soon begin to think of the POF collection.
Nwakohu recalled that the Ministry of Transport had earlier directed the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to reach out to the terminal operators to effect the collection at the point of cargo clearance at the ports.
It would be recalled that a member of the Board of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Ernest Elochukwu had said he will never pay the controversial POF at the ports.
Elochukwu had described POF as illegal and therefore a fraud, saying he is prepared for legal action against the collection.
He told SHIPPING DAY that he will be joining other customs agents to take any necessary action against the payment of POF.
Noting that his association, ANLCA, withdrew from an earlier court action against the collection from the back door, he said he will join other agents who are in court already against the collection.
He argued that POF being championed by CRFFN was not a regulation of any of the Governing Board of the Council.
According to him, it was the former Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe who in collaboration with other interested parties that pushed for POF to be gazetted even when there was no regulation by the Council members.
When reminded that POF was introduced to save the Council from financial issues, he argued that CRFFN like other agencies of government had been under subvention by the government and therefore could not have been without funds.
Elochukwu challenged the Council to account for its budgetary allocations in the past and show evidence of audited accounts.
He also revealed that the Second Council had come up years back for an alternative funding following the Onosanye Panel recommendation in which there was speculation on possible removal with similar agencies from budgetary allocation.
“That was what gave rise to the Second Council discussing about alternative source of funding. That was when the practicing fee was discussed. A Committee was set up to liase with the associations on how this funding can be realized. But before the Committee could start working, some people started building castels in the air and sharing the money that has not been collected. This was also what led to the stagnation in the reconstitution of the Third Council which ought to have been reconstituted since 2012. It was because of the controversy generated on how to share the money collected that affected the constitution of the3rd Council. So between 2012 and close to 2018 there was no Governing Board. This was why the Council was run solely by Jukwe, So nobody regulated on the POF”.
He argued that since no council regulated on the POF, it was wrong for the Council under Jukwe to go and gazette it.
“This makes POF illegal and therefore a fraud. What I am doing is to expose illegality. In this country, we owe ourselves the duty of not encouraging illegality. It is for all to know that what is being done is fraudulent.
“ANLCA was in court over this matter but without consultation withdrew. But some other individual members went to court after ANLCA’s withdrawal. I will join this group. Together we shall fight against illegality. I am doing this for posterity”
It would be recalled CRFFN Registrar, Bar Mike Nwakohu, had recently launched POF collection with the terminal operators being incharge of the process.
Under the arrangement, the terminal operators are to be given an Excel sheet to record the collections before a customs agent is allowed to carry his cargo out of the port.
The fee is N1,000 for 20ft container and N2000 for 40ft containers.
Nwakohu had told newsmen, “Terminal operators have nothing to do with the process on the portal; the only role they play is to verify the receipt against the control document to ensure one has paid before leaving the port”.
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