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ANLCA says it is not against registering with CRFFN

The President of the Association of Nigerian
Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Olayiwora Shitu has debunked
insinuations that members of his body were not ready to register with the
Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).

Many
people had thought that ANLCA and the National Council of Managing Directors of
Customs Agents (NCMDCA) led by Mr Lucky Amiwero were not ready to register with
the CRFFN , one of the reasons why the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi,
had given an order that all customs brokers or freight forwarders must register
with the Council or lose their licences.
Shitt, however, said that he was
in support of the registration having registered with the CRFFN long time ago,
and gave his CRFFN registration number as RFF 00004.

He also
said that other members had been registering for years, adding that nobody has
right to say no to the registration to practise.

He said
that the transportation minister was misinformed that ANLCA members were not
registering with the CRFFN.

According
to him, “we have been registering for years. Nobody has right not to be
registered to practise. Everybody must register.”

The
Transportation Minister had given two weeks deadline for the registration.

However,
President of the NCMDCA, Mr Lucky Amiwero had said that the Minister had no
right to give such order on where customs brokers or freight forwarders should
register.

Amiwero
argued that customs brokers are regulated under the Customs Excise Management
Act (CEMA) and not by the CRFFN, adding that there could not be two regulations.

Amiwero
said that as far as he was concerned, the power of revocation or suspension of
licences was with the Ministry of Finance.

He also
claimed that right now the CRFFN had no board.
He argued that those who should concern
themselves with CRFFN registration should be mainly transporters who move cargoes,
adding that as far as he was concerned customs brokers were trade experts.

He said
that customs brokers had nothing to do with carrying cargo, but in interpreting
principles of international trade.

He
claimed that the CRFFN only exists in Nigeria and nowhere else in the world,
adding that the Minister was not properly briefed.

Besides,
he said there is an ongoing court case on the issue.

However,
a  member of NAGAFF described Amiwero’s
view on the Minister’s order as totally wrong, adding that CRFFN from
historical background was established to regulate all clearing agents, whether
as customs brokers or freight forwarders.

He said,
“Amiwero and some people do not want to be regulated. There is no industry
where regulation is not in force. It is for sanity of every industry.

“As at the time CRFFN was set up, it was clear
that customs agents under whatever name were lacking regulation and therefore
behaving anyhow and causing trouble in the ports environment.”
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