The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) on Tuesday said it totally agreed with the collection of Practitioners’ Operating Fee (POF) by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
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The National President of ANLCA, Mr Tony Nwabunike, made this known at a news conference in Lagos.
According to him, to fully comply with the collection, they (customs agents) need to know the critical issues surrounding the POF collection and its disbursement, to support it.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that POF is a legal practising fee meant to be paid by freight forwarders and customs brokers.
A 20ft container will attract a fee of N1,000 while a 40ft container will attract N2,000 fee to be cleared from the port.
“Based on things we have heard concerning the POF collection which has to do with the training of practitioners, taking care of welfare and activities of the association, we we will go ahead with it.
“We want to give the CRFFN a trial. No single petition or issue of going to court due to non-acceptance as being rumoured have come to my office. So we want to give peace a chance and see how it goes.
“After one year, we will review it and see if we actually benefit from it. If it has beefed up members’ capacity for professionalism; we will know the way forward,” Nwabunike said.
He pointed out that recently, the POF collection was tested. Whatever hitch is noticed will be corrected along the line.
The ANLCA president said the money going to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) was a good thing “as it will ensure no money is lost’’.
Nwabunike urged members to be law-abiding as this was a process and would be sorted out to favour everybody.