…22 vessels laden with petroleum products, others approach Lagos

By Ifeyinwa Obi

The crisis rocking the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) may be far from being over as the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has said that unless a declarator is properly defined in line with the Act establishing CRFFN, it will not support the collection of the Practitioners’ Operating Fee (POF) as proposed by CRFFN.

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, had last year when the POF was initially conceived opposed its collection on the ground that associations cannot be partakers in the sharing formula proposed by the CRFFN rather the proceeds from the POF should be shared between the council and the licensed company through which declaration was made to the customs.

Afraid that its members may be coerced into paying the POF, ANLCA approached a Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the Ministry of Transportation, the Inspector-General of Police and/or its cronies from coercing its members to pay the fee.

Meantime, the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has said that 22 vessels laden with petroleum products, food items and other goods are expected to arrive Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports in Lagos between end of November to early December.

The management said this in its daily publication of operational activities made available in Lagos. Six of the expected 22 ships would berth with petrol and aviation fuel.

NPA said that the expected ships contained buck wheat, bulk gypsum, general cargoes, base oil, containers and petrol.

The document noted that four ships had arrived the ports, waiting to berth with bulk fertilizer, diesel and petrol.

NPA said that four out of the 15 ships at the ports are currently discharging petrol.

Eleven other ships are discharging general cargoes, bulk wheat, containers, empty containers, bulk gas, kerosene and petrol.