Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has ordered the relocation of Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, (CRFFN), back to Lagos.
Checks at the ministry revealed that the recent directive by the Minister to the Acting Registrar of the Council, Chinyere Uromta, is aimed at bringing the Council closer to its area of operation and reducing cost of day to day running of the council.
Many travels between Lagos and Abuja have fritrered the Councils lean resources, which observers say is present collection cannot sustain.
CRFFN headquarters, which was in Lagos, was moved to Abuja recently in a controversial manner that has resulted in the fretting away of the lean resources of the organisation as a result of travels from Abuja to Lagos by its officials.
The Council, which has been unable to clear about five months salary arrears and numerous duty tour allowances (DTA) of staff has also been grappling with low staff morale following its removal from budgetary allocation by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Since the Council was removed from federal government allocation, it is solely dependent of Internally Generated Revenue which 40% is deducted at source in favour of Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of Government. This 40% remittance to CRF has been reviewed upward to 50% of IGR, effective 1st January 2024.
It was gathered that under the Acting Registrar, the Practitioners Operating Fee, said to be CRFFN major revenue source, has dropped to an all time low averaging below N30 million every month.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the monthly wage bill of N47 million per month to cover for workers salaries has not been paid for February March, April, May and June 2024, whike other allowances are being owed.
It was also learnt that over N900 million budgeted for the council by the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration for the purchase of a headquarters building in Lagos as at 2022 has not been used for the procurement.
