POF: Letter from Finance Ministry is fake - CRFFN trainer

Segun Oladipupo

The claim by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) that the Ministry of Finance endorsed its collection of Practitioners Operations Fee (POF) may have turned out to be a lie

According to the National President the Nigerian Institute of Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers (NIFFCB), Dr. Zebulon Ikokide, such a letter could not have emanated from the Ministry of Finance.

Ikokide who described the letter as ‘fake’ queried the process of making CRFFN a revenue generating organization without amending the Act establishing the Council.

Vehemently kicking against the authenticity of the letter, he said the attention of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission(EFCC)should be drawn to find out the source of the letter.

Ikokide, therefore, called on practitioners to probe the collection of the fee and resist any form of payment which in turn could add to the cost of doing business at the port.

His words, “I don’t agree actually that the Council should collect any practicing fee and besides, it is wrong for them to come and tell the freight forwarders that the Minister of Finance wrote a letter to them.

“In actual fact, if EFCC should demand the letter. You may see a letter but can the Minister stand and agree that she wrote a letter?

“The minister does not have the right to constitute or open up another agency to be collecting money for the federal government.

“Federal Government had Customs and Federal Inland Revenue Service, apart from these ones, nobody can constitute another financial revenue collector for the country.

“The minister cannot do that unless CRFFN law is returned to the National Assembly for them to be approved as a revenue-generating organization.

“The letter is a fake letter because the Minister would not agree to sign that letter. Maybe a clerk in the ministry wrote the letter and put it inside the papers that the Minister is signing and she will sign without knowing.

Ikokide added that if the letter is investigated, it would be found out to be fake and the Minister would be in trouble for it.