NAGAFF Writes CRFFN, Complains of Smuggling of ‘Customs Licensed Agent’ Nomenclature into New Gazette
*Calls for disciplinary measures against perpetrators
By Francis Ugwoke
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has complained about a provision in the new Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Gazette which recognized the Customs Licensed Agent as a separate party.
In a letter to the Chairman dated May 13, the association referred to the provision in the Gazette No 31 under the Annual subscription and other fees which states “35% to the Registered Freight Forwarder and Customs Licensed Agent (REFF and CLA who made the declaration through the accredited Associations” as a misnormer.
In the letter signed by the Deputy National President of the Association, Mr Simeon Nwonu, the association said the inclusion of CLA should not have been so, arguing that in the contemplation of the CRFFN No. 16 of 2007, the nomenclature Freight Forwarder is a compound name that covers and embraces all the services of a freight forwarder in which the Customs Licensed Agent is subsumed.
It further argued that CRFFN Act does not recognize the Customs Licensed Agent or the abbreviation “CLA” as having the status of a freight forwarder but only recognizes RFF.
“The duplication or the introduction of a nomenclature which is alien to the CRFFN Act will only mean that other services like warehousing, packaging, consolidation, logistics, courier operations etc, also need to be separated. Section 19 (2) of the CRFFN Act which is the only place where Customs Licensed Agent was mentioned, explicitly states: “Every freight forwarder licensed under the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) prior to coming into force of this Act, shall immediately after the commencement of this Act, submit to the Nigeria Customs Service and any relevant authority, a certificate of registration issued by the Council”.
“This is not recognition of the Customs Licensed Agent but, the Freight Forwarder who also undertakes customs formalities. This clause also reinforces the fact that customs formalities are an integral part of freight forwarding. It also goes further to clear the air that the CFFN certificate supersedes the permit issued by any other authority charged with the issuance of licenses to freight forwarders. They are merely administrative platforms rather than being operational.
“NAGAFF sees the smuggling effect of the nomenclature “Customs Licensed Agent” and its separation from the approved nomenclature and RFFN status as fraudulent. The content of the memo which was presented before the Council Board did not contain Customs Licensed Agents as a different entity. We therefore wish to demand that those behind this dastardly and misleading Act which is capable of causing disharmony in the Council’s administration should be fished out and brought to justice to serve as a deterent to others. It has become expedient that this particular unapproved/unauthorized insertion in the Act should be deleted and expunged from the Gazette forthwith.
“It is our belief that this criminal Act was hurriedly carried out without the consent of the new Council management board led by Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni.
“The authority of the Council board to make regulations and delete any act against the spirit and letters of the CRFFN Act is needed at this time”.
NAGAFF also said that the 35 percent allocation of POFs should be paid into the account of the five associations duly registered by the Council for the administration and management of the various associations and for the general welfare of its members.
According to the body, “a natural person prefixed RFF is the declarant other than RFFC, which connotes corporate entity as an artificial person”.
The letter added, “It is our hope that the new management of CRFFN should as a matter of necessity stand up and defend the CRFFN Act rather than the present position wherein it appears to be playing into the hands of other government agencies and or playing second fiddle to any of the government agencies in Nigeria . At the moment CRFFN by the order of the Federal High Court of Nigeria Lagos division, is an agency of the Government under the Ministry of Transportation as a parastatal”.
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