POF will upgrade status of Nigerian Freight agents — NAFFAC boss.

Segun Oladipupo

A member of the Governing Council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), and President General of the National Association of Freight Forwarders and Air Consolidators (NAFFAC), Dr. Bakare Adeyinka has said that payment of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) will help to upgrade the standard of Nigerian Freight Forwarders.

Adeyinka who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos at the weekend said the fee would enable the Council to carry out international training for the freight agents.

He made the comment in view of recent hues and controversies by supposed payers of the fee.

The practitioners had in different reports vowed that they would not pay the fee because it would amount to double payment after paying the Council registration fee and that they did not see need for such fee that would swell the cost of doing business in the port.

The Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) recently announced collection of the POF across the seaports, airports and border posts across the country.

The NAFFAC boss also noted that there is bound to be teething problem at the initial stage of the collection but added that the process must get to an auto pilot stage in the future.

Bakare stressed the need for the Council to embark on massive sensitisation and awareness campaigns for practitioners to understand the importance of the fee.

According to him, training and re- training of freight forwarders and licensed customs agents must be paramount in ensuring a level playing field for practitioners to compete favourably with international operators.

While reacting against the backdrop of some practitioners kicking against the collection of the fee, the NAFFAC boss reiterated that the collection would be of enormous benefits to the stakeholders and all other frontiers.

His words, “The honest truth is this, par adventure the members of the Association’s you are talking about are not properly briefed.

“Why are we supporting it. As old as NAFFAC is as an association, we don’t benefit anything from it . It is only few associations that really benefit from it

“Whether we like it or not, the POF is already being collected by some people. If you get to Tincan now, there are some people collecting association due and it is going to the pockets of few.

“What we are saying is that let the money come to a central pocket, we will use it to train ourselves.

“We are saying money has been paid, nothing has come back to me now I will get some percentage and aside that, they will still train me and attend international conference and all that.

“At the end of It, we will be able to compete with people in the international freight forwarding practice. That is what we are saying.

“Anybody going against it has probably not seen the benefits,” he submitted