The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has begun to fine tune arrangements to inaugurate a disciplinary committee called the tribunal and a freight forwarders forum, in a bid to encourage controllable behaviours amongst practitioners.The Nigerian Tribune gathered that while the forum was to encourage robust interactions between the CRFFN executives and its bona fide members, the tribunal was a special instrument designed to curb some observed excesses noticed on the part of few adventurous ones, who are utilizing perceived loopholes in the Council, to personal advantages.The two strategic committees, according to groups head, Alhaji Olanrewaju Hakeem, are expected to be inaugurated on April 30, this year, during the Councils statutory annual general meeting (AGM) in Abuja; with the disciplinary committee flagged off by the Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke; while the freight forwarders forum would be done by the minister of transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman.Responding to recent allegations of corruption raised against the body, Hakeem disclosed that the controversial N250 million said to have been mismanaged by the Council was a spurious mudslinging from an uninformed group of mischief makers who are bent on dragging the name of CRFFN in the mud.The money in question was a grant from the government and the Council has fully accounted for it. It is impossible to embezzle that kind of money when one is not in a Banana republic. We should stop thinking in the past, those who cannot be accountable should stop thinking that everyone is, he insisted.Every income and expenditure of the Council is statutorily subject to the scrutiny of all the relevant organs. We could not have survived as Council without subjecting ourselves to regulation of our expenditure. Details of how the money in question was expended have since been submitted to the appropriate quarters, he explained.In the meantime, Councils registrar, Mike Jukwe, has indicated that the freight forwarders Council was set to fix an agreeable freight forwarding charges collectable on all cargoes to be cleared from all entry points in Nigeria, a sour point of constant disagreement amongst stakeholders within the industry.Jukwe explained that the fixing would be done by the forum, with strong inputs from a board whose membership may be drawn from stakeholders inclusive of the Shipping Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Seaports and Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria, Importers Association of Nigeria, Ports Consultative Council, maritime journalists, among others.The AGM is compulsory and must hold yearly and we are using this years event to unfold our programmes for our members, we are very optimistic that the committees which will be unfolded and empowered will also complement our efforts as a council Jukwe remarked.
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