Freight Forwarder raises alarm: Says POF is an instrument to impoverish young struggling practitioners

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A transport planner, veteran freight forwarder and public analyst, Dr. Segun Musa, has declared that Practitioners Operating Fee (POF), is nothing but an instrument to further impoverish the young struggling practitioners in the maritime industry.

Dr Musa, also calls for a suitable source of funding for Council for the Regulating of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria ((CRFFN).

His words: “The CRFFN Board and our Amiable Minister of Transport, should think of creating a suitable source of revenue to fund the Council, if the Federal Government does not have the capacity for such funding, instead of taxing the already over taxed citizens”.

He pointed out: “Interestingly, I am the architect of the birth of this nomenclature during the days of misunderstanding between my association and a sister association at the Airport, on how to mutually enhance fair sharing to benefits our members contributing from proceeds of their hard-earned incomes from daily jobs to the association’s account at the Airport. Anybody with contrary idea of how this came into limelight should come out and date it.

“When the CRFFN through POF sponsors that thought taking our members contributions to board for fair sharing would be the solutions, I resisted it because government doesn’t not share revenue proceeds with any private sectors and whoever is advocating to gazette such is only deceiving you, because it would never last, if at all you are able to jump-start it.

“I would like to use Airport as a case study.
Our members contributed voluntarily out of their hard-earned profits to save for the rainy day. Interestingly, we have independent members and some multinationals that do not contribute, because it is voluntary with no compulsion.

“While serving as a Chairman at the Airport,
I pulled out my association from the arrangement severally and occasionally stopped the collections as a protest. This is to justify that the arrangement is nothing but voluntary contribution”.

According to him, “The essence of this arrangement is to ensure that members in need can get adequate supports from the pool they had contributed.
The same way government of most viable countries of the world support their working citizens when they are out of work to cater for few of their immediate needs”.

Unfortunately, few individuals out of self interest decided to use the strength of government to hijack public voluntary contributions without minding what becomes of the contributors at the end of the day.

“It is only at the Airport that we do not carry exercise books around begging for assistance at the point of emergency, because we have proactive leaders managing the funds effectively on behalf of their members.

“If CRFFN has lost relevance and thinking that the only way to survive is to tax members rather than tasking their brains, I would glady like to be the first person to move for cancellation of this Council, if we can not ensure we put likeminds in the board with full knowledge of what the CRFFN Act stands to achieved as primary priority.

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