By Godfrey Bivbere

Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Alhaji Hakeem Olarinwaju has said that the Council is set to professionalise and re-orientate practitioners in the country by June this year.

Speaking in an exclusive chat with Vanguard, Olarinwaju noted that it is the desire of the Council to ensure that the freight forwarding profession is  practiced in line with the international standard.

The CRFFN boss explained that it is only when Nigerian freight forwarders meet the international standard that they can hope to compete with their counterpart  at the international level.

To achieve the above, the Council helmsman said that they have and would continue to embark on training and re-raining of all registered members to bring them to the required level of expertise.

He pointed out that the first step was the recognition World Cargo Alliance (WCA) and International Federation of Freight Forwarding Associations (FIATA) while the next step is the opportunity open to members to attend international training that would also open up connections.He disclosed that the recent trip to Kenya is a pointer to the determination of the Council to expose members to international opportunities.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, had charged the new leadership of the Council during the inauguration to ensure that they work at improving freight forwarding business in the country to better the nation’s economy.

Suleiman had told them then that only enforcement of the regulations of the profession can lead to improvement which will in turn lead to greater opportunity for freight forwarding business in the country when their foreign counterpart begin to have confidence in them.

To achieve this he continued, he told the leadership to ensure training and retraining of all freight forwarders in the country to ensure professionalism.

Commending the immediate past leadership under Tony Iju Nwabudike for moving the Council to the point where of recognition at the international level, the Minister told new leaders of the Council to build on the successes of the past leadership to further move the Council even to a greater height.