The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is sorely rattled by the recent declaration by Lagos High Court that the collection of Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) from licensed Customs agents since 2020 amounting to billions of naira remains illegal
By Edu Abade
The lingering feud amongst the various associations of shippers and freight handlers in the country is yet to abate. It has shifted from verbal exchanges in the media to the judiciary, with the latest development being the recent declaration by a Federal High Court in Lagos to the effect that the acclaimed regulatory body of the practitioners, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) lacked the legitimacy to charge operating fees from duly licensed Customs clearing and forwarding agents.
The politicisation of the shipping business sector by the local practitioners got to its crescendo when there was the factionalisation in the fold of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), the oldest clearing and forwarding business association in the country. This resulted in the formation of numerous other associations, including the two most relevant ones namely, the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).
The rivalry between NCMDLCA and NAGAFF had lingered, too, over nomenclatures. While NAGAFF maintains that freight Forwarders, as the name implies, should be the authentic umbrella name for all shippers and freight or cargo handlers operating in the maritime sector as well as the airports and land borders, the NCMDLCA insisted that only licensed Customs clearing and forwarding agents are empowered by the law to undertake the business of cargo handling in the sea ports, airports and international land borders, arguing also that practitioners who go by the name freight forwarder should not have any business operating in the ports but on the high seas and land borders.
The rivalry has been degenerating, as well as generating arguments that are inexhaustible. In all of these, one thing remains common among these business people: They are all licensed by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). But the establishment of the CRFFN years back and the latter’s imposition of the illegal POF had since escalated the rivalry in the fold of the Nigerian shippers.
However, in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/5172/2008 earlier filed by NCMDLCA on August 27, 2008 and a ruling on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 following a Court of Appeal case No. CA/L/715/2009 in favour of the NCMDLCA, President of the Council, Lucky Eyis Amiwero told journalists that he and his family members were arrested for the sake of the CRFFN over the matter.
Also, in the judgment delivered by Justice D.E. Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos on June 13, 2025, the court granted all eight reliefs sought by the NCMDLCA: A declaration that the business of Licensed Customs Agents is not under the control of the Ministry of Transportation and Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN);
A declaration that that Licensed Customs Agents, their business and right to enter the ports to conduct and carry out the business of Licensed Customs Agents is created and regulated by the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA);
A declaration that Licensed Customs Agents and the business of Licensed Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders and the business of freight forwarding are functionally and operationally different bodies and businesses under the control, regulation and supervision of different and separate government ministries and parastatal;
A declaration that the ministerial directive mandating that Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria to commence collection of Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) and that the payment of Practitioners Operating Fees is a requirement for the release and delivery of cargo from the seaports, airports and land borders stations is ultra vires, the power of the Minister of Transportation and therefore, null and void.
Others were a declaration mandating the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to ensure that all licenses issued or renewed by the Customs will first be cleared by the CRFFN by confirming payment of registration, annual subscription and Practitioners Operating Fees as it affect the business of licensed Customs Agents is ultra vires the power of the Minister of Transportation and thus null and void;
A declaration that the Ministerial Directive mandating that Security Gate-Passes for access to the seaport and international cargo airport and land border posts be issued by the CRFFN is ultra vires the Ministerial power and thus null and void;
An order revoking and quashing the ministerial directive of the second defendant issued and published in Vanguard Newspaper of Tuesday, August 1, 2017 on page 29 only relates to the business and operations of Licensed Customs Agents; and
An order that Licensed Customs Agents be allowed access to the seaport, cargo air ports to carry out their legitimate business upon presentation of valid license as registered Licensed Customs Agents.
Reacting to the ruling at a media briefing in Lagos, Amiwero insisted that the court has vindicated the NCMDLCA in the case that lasted over 18 years, saying that the landmark judgment meant freedom for licensed customs agents, Nigerians and even generations yet unborn.
He lampooned former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who validated the operations of CRFFN during his time, maintaining that the crises began during his tenure.
Citing sections of the ruling he said, “Customs representatives or third party means customs licensed agent, broker or any person who deals directly with the Service, for and on behalf of another person, relating to customs matter, while freight forwarder means any person or company who arranges the carriage or movement of goods and associated formalities on behalf of an importer or exporter along international boundaries of sea ports, cargo airports or land border stations.
The ruling also explicitly clarified that Licensed Customs Agents shall not be subjected to regulatory control by the CRFFN or required to pay any fees or clearance from the CRFFN or required to pay fees or obtain clearance from the CRFFN as condition for access to the ports or renewal of their licenses under the Customs Act.
Reacting to the judgment, Registrar of CRFFN, Kingsley Igwe, who earlier claimed that the Council was not represented in Court during the duration of the case, affirmed that the actual amount that has accrued from the POF to date remains unknown, insisting that the Consultant has not been transparent and accountable with the collections.
Igwe said, “We are trying to know how much has accrued from POF because the collection of the fee is not directly under the control of the Council. We engaged a consultant and the consultant is in the best position to give us a clear account of how much they have collected on POF.
“As we speak, the Council does not have the figure of the amount and we have been demanding for it from the consultants and they have not been transparent enough to declare how much they have collected. It is still on their table to let the public know how much they have collected from POF because it is not supposed to be secret. Today, I am still establishing that we need to know how much.”
It would be recalled that the collection of POF started in phases at the nation’s seaports in 2020 before it was introduced to the airport and border stations across the country, which the court has declared illegal.
The gazette specifically states that the “CRFFN collects 60 percent Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), the associations will collect 35 percent as provided by the CRFFN Act (Accreditation of Associations of Freight Forwarders) Regulation 2010. The Registered Freight Forwarder and Licensed Customs Agent (RFF/LCA) is entitled to five percent of the POF, which will be collected by the CRFFN and remitted to the concerned RFF/LCA.”
As things stand, it only remains to be seen who wins the war between the Amiwero-led NCMDLCA and the Igwe-led CRFFN giving that the leadership of CRFFN claimed that its legal team was not represented in court before the judgment was passed, while the NCMDLCA has insisted that if it could pursue the case for 18 years, it will not relent in the event that the defendants appeal the ruling.
