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In its
determined effort to bring sanity to the freight forwarding practice
in the country the Nigeria Shippers Council (NSC) is working
tirelessly to ensure the professionalisation of the body.
Besides the it was discovered that the on-going reforms in the
maritime sector would be incomplete without professionalizing,
sanitizing and regulating freight forwarding practice in Nigeria .
It would be recalled that freight forwarders in the country have
broken into so many groups.
They are the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed
Customs Agents (NCMDLCA); and the Association of Nigerian Licensed
Customs Agents (ANLCA).
Others are the National Association of Government Approved Freight
Forwarders (NAGAFF); the Freight Forwarding Group of the Lagos
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Institute of Freight
Forwarders of Nigeria (IFFN) and a host of others.
Freight forwarding Associations have been talking in different
voices, each going in different directions on policy issues in the
port industry.
The enactment of the Council for the Regulation of Freight
Forwarding in Nigeria Act 2007 of April 2007, was indeed meant to
unite the freight forwarders and bring all the factions under an
umbrella that will regulate their activities and conducts.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has therefore taken it upon
itself to mid-wife the new council and ensure that freight
forwarding business is regulated and no more `an all comers’
affair’.
Recently in Abuja , the Nigeria Shippers’ Council organised what
most stakeholders described as ``a free, fair and keenly contested
election’’ of eight freight forwarders into the first Council for
the Regulation of Freight Forwarders from three identified zones of
West, East and Airports/Land borders.
Those elected were: National President of ANLCA, Chief Earnest
Elochukwu, Mr. Chukwu Agubama, Mr. Peter Obi, Mr. Tarzan
Onyemelukwe, Mr. Ifesue Teddy, Mr. Olanrewaju Akeem, Mr. Moshood
Tijani, and Mr. Tony Nwabunike.
Prior to the election, the shippers’ council collated the list of
freight forwarders, placed notices in the newspapers and enlightened
both the public and freight forwarders on preparations for the
election.
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Capt.
Adamu Biu said that efficiency and effectiveness with which a
nation’s freight forwarders carry out their activities would go a
long way in determining the level of success and profitability of
the nation.
``Indeed, the nation’s objective of achieving a 48-hour cargo
clearance period for imports and making one of its ports a hub port
for West and Central Africa will be a mere dream if freight
forwarding practice in Nigeria is not radically reformed’’, Biu
said.
According to him, it is for this reason that the Act establishing
the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding was passed.
The Executive Secretary commended the Chairmen and members of the
Marine Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives for
their supportive role in ensuring the passage of the Act.
The Minister of State for Water Transportation, Prince John
Okechukwu Emeka said ``the strategic role which freight forwarders
play in any nation’s international trade cannot be
over-emphasised’’.
Emeka noted that freight forwarding could indeed be said to be the
oil that lubricates the wheels of any nation’s international trade.
``For this reason, it is imperative that Nigerian freight forwarders
should be well organised and carry out their businesses in the best
tradition of the trade and in line with global best practices,” the
minister added.
He expressed regret that the practice of freight forwarding in the
country did not reflect this norm, saying that ``instead freight
forwarding in Nigeria is characterized by lack of professional
standards, shoddy service delivery to clients, shady deals and other
unwholesome practices’’.
Emeka said that the act was aimed at bringing sanity into freight
forwarding practice in Nigeria.
He explained that the Council would determine the level of knowledge
and skills, which freight forwarders should attain in order to be
registered to practice the trade in Nigeria.
According to the minister, the Council will also establish a code of
ethics to which all practitioners will subscribe as obtains in other
respectable professions and establish machinery for the training and
retraining of practitioners in order to bring them up to the
expected standards and keep them abreast of developments in the
international trade arena.
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria is
charged with the general duty of determining the persons or classes
of persons who constitute freight forwarders.
It will determine the standards of knowledge and skill to be
attained by persons seeking to be registered as freight forwarders
and raising those standards from time to time in accordance with
international industry practice.
The Council will regulate and control freight forwarding practice as
well as regulate and control all the Associations of freight
forwarding agents.
The Council will also regulate and control persons who are engaged
in freight forwarding and ensure uniform standards of professional
conduct and education relevant to freight forwarding practice.
It also has the duty of securing, in accordance with the provisions
of the Act, the establishment and maintenance of registers of
persons entitled to practice as registered freight forwarders and
the publication from time to time of the list of such persons.
The Act, however, says there shall be 17 other members to be
appointed into the council by the minister.
On the whole, there would be 25 members out of which one person
shall be elected by the council as chairman; another person to be
elected as vice-chairman; eight freight forwarders; and six persons
to be appointed by the minister to represent the six geo-political
zones of the federation in rotation for two years at a time, no two
of whom shall be indigenes of the same state.
There would also be two persons appointed by the minister to
represent institutions of higher learning offering courses in
international trade and transport and any related courses in
rotation.
The Minister shall also appoint a representative each of the
following establishments – Federal Ministry of Transport; Federal
Ministry of Finance; Federal Ministry of Education; Nigeria Customs
Service; Nigerian Shippers’ Council; and Nigerian Ports Authority.
Other establishments are: Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,
Nigerian Railway Corporation; and Nigerian Association of Chambers
of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture.
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