By Godfrey Bivbere & Maimuna Mohammed

Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is set to rake in billions of naira annually as government approves the collection of transaction fees, registration fee and subscription fees respectively.

In a letter titled “Report on the stakeholders’ meeting on the annual subscription and other fees to be collected by the CRFFN”with reference number T.0160/s.172/1 and dated 3rd July, 2012, government approved transaction fees for airports, seaports and land borders cargoes.

The charges approved by government includes, N1.50 per kilometer for air cargo, N1.000 per 20 feet container, N2,000 per 40 feet container, N500 per car/jeep, N1,000 per truck or 20 feet equivalent, N2,000 per truck or 40 feet equivalent, N3.50 per ton for general cargo and N1.00 per ton for dry bulk cargo respectively.

Should the above which adds up to N6, 506 be multiplied by 205, 595, 088 which is the total gross tonnage and cargo throughput declared by the Management of NPA for last year, the Council is expected to earn about N1.3 tillion annually.

The federal government equally approved various registration fees for Nigerians and non Nigerians, ranging from N7,500 to N50,000 depending on the category of membership. Similarly, annual subscription fees ranging from N10,000 to N60,000 was approved, depending on the category of membership.

To ensure compliance, the Ministry directed the central office, planning and information (MOPR) of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to “Henceforth forward copies of all cargo manifest received to the CRFFN.”

“In addition, the CRFFN should be represented at the berthing committee meetings of the NPA.”However, the approval may set the Council on one side and the various freight forwarding association on the other hand on a collition course.