The Council for Freight Forwarding in Nigeria has declared that the implementation of the Practitioners Operation Fee will fetch annual revenue of N5bn.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, CRFFN, Nwakohu Samuel, disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos while speaking with journalists, stressing that the payment processes had been fully automated.

He said the processes had also been integrated with the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Nigeria Customs Service and other government agencies.

Samuel said that the proposed N5bn revenue would increase after the initial period of implementation.

Recall that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had approved the payment of the PoF by importers and freight forwarders clearing goods from the nation’s seaports.

For every 20-foot container, the PoF is given as N1,000 while every 40-foot container attracts N2,500 PoF.

Clearing agents had kicked against the fee, saying that payments were already being made to the Customs, NPA and shipping firms and that this payment would increase their operational cost.

The matter passed through various court processes with the Federal Government granting its final approval.

The CRFFN registrar specifically said the Ministry of Finance had given the approval making the PoF payment a condition for the exit of goods from the ports and border gates.

He said with the automation, it would be impossible to operate as a freight forwarder without registration and payment of the PoF.

“The freight forwarder will be unable to log in,” he said.

Samuel said 25 per cent of the amount generated from the PoF would go to the federation account; 35 per cent would be set aside for training, capacity building and other issues in the freight forwarding sector; 20 per cent would go to the SW Global, the technical partner to the CRFFN while 20 per cent would go into the CRFFN coffers.

He said, “We are doing an integration that will take about three to four weeks but that will not stop the commencement of the implementation of the PoF.

“You make payment against an invoice generated for you. You have to clear it with them because that is the last port of call for you to take your container out.”

The CRFFN registrar also said, “You must be able to show evidence that you have paid before you can take your container out.

“By the time we integrate fully, all you need do is to give them the reference number to your bill of lading and they will crosscheck in their own system. Before then, whatever we generate from this end, we will give to them; they will tick you off if you have paid.”

He expressed confidence that the system put in place was self-enforcing and would be difficult for people to flout it.