Freight forwarders decry multiple alerts by Customs 

Segun Oladipupo

Freight forwarders under the eagies of  Oodua Descendant Freight Forwarders Association (ODFFA) have decried the incessant and numerous debit alerts slammed on freight forwarders and importers on same cargo by different units of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the course of clearing cargoes from the port.

The group stated this on Monday in Lagos during a briefing with journalists on the forthcoming Fifth Anniversary of the group slated for Thursday, May, 27, 2021 at Welcome Event Centre, Airport Road, Oshodi in Lagos.

The group, through the Founder/National President, Hon. Prince Olusegun Ademola Adefioye, said that the challenges of alerts is robbing off on the businesses of members, importers and freight forwarders across the country.

He said, “We have many challenges like nearly in all the ports, you will be hearing of CPC alert, enforcement alert, taskforce alert, too many alerts and at the end of the day, if you are able to scale through, the FOU alert on the road will be molesting you without making enquiries to know the customs officer that exited the job and at the same time, they will be delaying us.

“At the end of the day, they take the container or consignment to FOU and you start another process again, only the agent and importer that will be suffering whereas the customs officer that released the job is exonerated.

“Those are the things we are staying are not okay and we are socio-cultural group, we can only put pressure through the national associations in which all of us belong to”

On development of members, Adefioye added that ODFFA had sponsored members to freight forwarding academies to acquire knowledge to be able to compete globally.

“This is not our first time, we have organised seminars, workshops, trainings since we started Oodua Descendant Freight Forwarders to encourage our members.

“We have sponsored some people to NAGAFF academy to go and acquire more knowledge for Oodua Descendant and we are still going to continue so that we Yorubas can be relevant in the industry.”

Accordibg to him, the annicersary is meant to celebrate and reward professional excellence among Yoruba freight forwarders and to reward non-professionals who have contributed to the growth of the profession and Yoruba development in Nigeria saying “We want to inform you that no fewer than three non-Yoruba freight forwarders have been given awards.

“Apart from rewarding, the Day provides an opportunity for us as an association to appraise our growth as Yoruba in the freight forwarding profession in Nigeria and look for a way to improve,” he submitted.