By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

The Comptroller- General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, weekend, said the discord among freight forwarders has made it difficult for policy makers to consult them on vital policies affecting their profession.

This is just as he decried the proliferation of associations in the freight forwarding industry as well as the maritime media, giving confusing signals to policy makers.

Adeniyi said this during the Award and Dinner night organized by the maritime media to honour him for his exemplary leadership.

He pleaded with the confraternity of the freight forwarders to come together under one umbrella so as to present unified position to government on matters affecting their industry. 

He said: “The story of customs agents is similar to that of maritime journalists in terms of proliferation of associations. There are so many discordant tunes coming from the freight forwarders which do not help the policy makers.

“The policy makers want to respect them by consulting them on matters of policies about their profession but the discordant tunes coming from them make it difficult for such consultations”.

To this end, he charged both former National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Shittu Olayiwola, and Chairman of the Customs Consultative Council( CCC) Alhaji Akeem Olanrewaju, to spearhead the unification drive of the freight forwarding associations, given their vantage positions in the freight forwarding industry.

He said: “It would be recalled that there are more than five freight forwarding groups which are recognized by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN), the government regulatory agency in the freight forwarding industry,which include ANLCA, NAGAFF, Council of Managing Directors, AREFF.

“The freight forwarders often accused the government of not carrying them along in some of the policies affecting their profession.

“Recently, the agitated customs brokers accused the Customs of not consulting them before the 4 per cent FOB charge was imposed on them, a protest which makes the Customs to suspend the fee for enough consultation.

Meanwhile, the CGC has equally admonished the maritime media to collapse the multiple associations among them which he said has been impeding efforts to access opportunities in the maritime industry