5th October, 2012
The National Chairman, Governing Council, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju has blamed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for inciting other freight forwarding associations against the council to cause port instability over the controversial transaction fees collection suspended by the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, last month.
Olanrewaju, while briefing journalists over the suspension of the transaction fees, in Lagos recently said that the NCS action was a sign capable of leading to the death of the council.
According to him, the lingering crisis rocking CRFFN was manipulated by the NCS over its petition letter to the Minister of Transport, urging him to use his office to suspend the transaction fees being collected by the CRFFN from legitimate practicing freight forwarders at the nation’s gateway.
“When the information got to me that the Customs wrote a petition letter to the Minister of Transport, I didn’t believe it until I got the letter from the ministry and saw it myself. I was shocked that the management of Nigeria Customs Service could do this to us.
“NCS was the first organization we visited when we were inaugurated into this council. We asked for their collaboration and cooperation. I wrote series of letters to the Comptroller General of Customs telling him that the council would like to collaborate with them on capacity building since they have the structure to teach our freight forwarders. But now, for the Customs to have stopped the transaction fee, it means the Customs are pursuing a selfish interest.
“Customs are under the Ministry of Finance and we are under the Ministry of Transport. So, what concerns them with Ministry of Transport’s affairs?
—Esther Komolafe