The Minister of State for Transportation- Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, has tasked government agencies to take Internally Generated Revenue seriously as it is the only way they can be productive. This is in view of the government’s dwindling resources.
Sen. Saraki disclosed this when the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Board members paid her a courtesy visit recently in Abuja.
Saraki, who was obviously very excited at the strides recorded within a year by the present Board of CRFFN, said the Ministry will do all it can, to encourage the regulatory body in achieving its mandate.
She said, “To be honest, you seem to have achieved so much; I heard it all here, within just a year. That is absolutely incredible and it puts me under pressure so that when am doing my one year, I hope I can have as many achievements as you”.
Furthermore, while still commending the CRFFN, she said: “One of the things that I think is very important that you said that pricked my ears is you won’t be requiring money from Federal Government; you probably the ones going to give. I think there is nothing better than you to generate your money, because, as you know, the amount of money agencies and ministries are getting, seems not to be enough. Therefore, it’s a bit frustrating when you are trying to achieve so much. So be able to raise enough revenue internally and use that judiciously, and we will do our very best to ensure that you are able to do that”.
The Minister also urged the body to be more visible, to organize training and accreditation for members, and to ensure standard and best practices. “It is a profession and it should be treated as such. And to treat it as a profession, you need to have some form of standard and the standard can only be set by the Council; you set the standard and make sure of the best practices.
You cannot affect the standard without any form of training, so if you set the standard, also provide training on how to get accredited or certified or whatever it is,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board- Abubakar Tsanna, said that within one year, the Council has successfully employed a new Registrar, relocated the Corporate Headquarters to Lagos, and got the approval for the collection of POF from the Federal Executive Council and has had it its Gazetted for effective implementation.
According to him, other achievements include; successful interaction with NPA, Customs and Shippers Council for effective and efficient POF collection, the Completion of 2017 and 2018 ongoing projects for the provision of office, accommodations and facilities for operations nationwide.
Tsanna further stated that the Council has constituted a Special Committee under the leadership of the Council’s Vice Chairman to ensure dispute resolutions and create a harmonious working relationship between the staff and management that would ginger synergy and promote the progress of the Council.
“Through the Committees on MDAs, we were able to build a good relationship with various MDAs and indeed achieved a lot of working understanding with them’, he said.
Another milestone is that “For the first time in the history of agents’ activities in Nigeria, they will start benefitting from their sweats”, as the Council has secured the approval and Gazetting that 35% of POF collected to be to their benefit.
He also disclosed that CRFFN has successfully secured accreditations with various Universities in Nigeria to run courses leading to the certification of would-be-operators in freight forwarding.
