CRFFN to commence collection of POF before end of 2019

Segun Oladipupo |

The collection of the controversial Practitioners Operations Fee (POF) by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) will commence before the end of 2019, nigeriamaritime360.com can authoritatively report.

In an exclusive chat with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council, Henry Njoku said that the processes leading to its collection are at the final stage of completion.

Recall that the immediate past Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe had said that the Council woukd commence the collection of the fee by December, 2018.

But Njoku stated that the fee, which he said has been approved by the Federal Executive Council, is at the stage of connectivity with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Though he said that he didn’t know which agency will be responsible for the collection.

He said, “POF has gotten approval from Federal Executive Council but there is a connectivity they are doing between NPA and they are rounding it off now.

“So, it is after the connectivity that it will take off and the CRFFN is also engaging stakeholders on the issue.

“Before the end of this year, we will start collection of POF. They are almost done but I don’t know who will collect it but the connectivity is almost finished”0

Speaking further, Njoku who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) stated that the association ,as an advocacy group, takes up matters that affect their members in the port.

He averred that the group ensures things are done according to government regulations in freight forwarding operations.

“We look at what our members suffer at the port and follow it to make sure that government regulation is followed .

“We are all Nigerians, we know that it is not as easy as we look at it. If we see that what is going on in the port is not going on well with agents, we will try and look at it.

“For example, if agents are asking for their containers to be positioned and the terminal is asking for three days, it means the terminal does not have the equipment and in such situations, agents should not be made to pay for the delay,” he said.