By Eguono Odjegba

THE Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, has raised alarm over threat to the practice of freight forwarding following the incursion of quacks into the profession.

Speaking at the just concluded sensitization workshop with the theme, ‘Freight Forwarding Practice as a Career’, Director of Education Committee of the Council, Dr. Alban Igwe, said that apart from the invasion of quacks into the profession, digital disruption, dominance by foreign practitioners as well as knowledge gap was threatening Nigerians in the business.

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Igwe said that if the issues threatening the practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria are not urgently dealt with, the economy could suffer for it.

He explained that the government was also interested in the practice of the profession because it deals with issues of security, safety regulation and the economy.

He stated: “On the issue of security, freight forwarders determine what comes in and goes out of the country. Arms and ammunition could be packaged and documents compromised at the peril of the nation. In terms of safety poor handling of international shipments especially dangerous goods have been responsible for major disasters.

“Weak regulatory concerns can allow contraband goods find their way into the country. False declaration and under-declaration could be a major source of economic leakage. Proper standardization will ensure conformity and promote competitiveness.

“Ensuring the security of the cargo supply chain is a critical factor in today’s fragile and terrorist regimes. In the same vein, capturing and verifying the identity of persons involved in the international freighting should not be left unchecked. Therefore, freight forwarding must be kept under regulation in the interest of the wellbeing of the innocent third party and the nation.”

He was of the opinion that the freight-forwarding industry was about to experience enormous changes as new technologies take hold.