Saraki tasks government agencies on IGR, as CRFFN presents scorecard

The Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, has tasked government agencies to take internally generated revenue, IGR serious, as this is the only way they can be productive, considering the paucity of fund in the government’s purse presently.
Senator Saraki made this, when the Board members of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), paid her a visit on Wednesday December 11, 2019, in Abuja.
Saraki, who was 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 put me under pressure so that when am doing my one year, I hope I can have as many achievements as you.
“One of the things that I think is very important that you said that picked 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, are not seems 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”, she said.
The Minister also urged the body to be visible, carry out trainings and accreditation for members, and 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 effect 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”.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board, Abubakar Tsanna, rolled out the achievements of the council within one year.  He said, within the year the council has successfully recruited a New Registrar, relocated the Corporate Headquarters activities to Lagos, and ensured the approval for the collection of POF from the Federal Executive Council and its Gazetting for effective implementation.
He said, within the period the council has secured the successful Council’s 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 ensured proper coordination in dispute resolution between the CR and management team and created harmonious working relationship between the management and the council through the constituting of Special Committee under the leadership of the council Vice Chairman for effective synergy towards 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.
“For the first time in the history of the agents’ activities in Nigeria, they will start benefitting from their sweats, where this Council secured the approval and Gazetting of 35% to be benefitted from POF collection of the Council.
“Also, successfully secured accreditations with various Universities in Nigeria.
“As strategy to create harmonious corporation and support of our major stakeholders in the maritime industry, we were able to successfully visit the secretariats of the five (5) accredited Associations with the CRFFN and MARAN, rubbed minds with them with clear understanding of our vision, mission and objectives”, he concluded.