In a significant move to sanitize Nigeria's ports and logistics corridors, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has officially joined forces with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBI). The two bodies signed a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Lagos on Tuesday, November 19, 2025, to strengthen the fight against corruption across the entire logistics value chain.
A Partnership for Systemic Reform
The core objective of this collaboration is to drive systemic reform by enhancing compliance, transparency, efficiency, and ethical standards. A major focus will be on promoting digital innovation within the sector. The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of CRFFN, Igwe Kingsley, clarified that this initiative is not a revenue-generating venture. Instead, it is strictly designed to improve the ease of doing business at Nigerian ports and along inland logistics routes.
Kingsley highlighted that this new effort builds on earlier successful reforms that helped restore sanity to the marine corridor and contributed to Nigeria's recent achievement of a zero-piracy record. He noted, however, that while the maritime sector has improved, corruption and extortion stubbornly persist on land, where freight forwarders face multiple unauthorised payments that inflate costs and harm trade efficiency.
Digital Tools to Report Irregularities
A central component of the agreement involves the training of freight forwarders and CRFFN staff on new digital platforms. They will be equipped to use the port call assist digital platform and the port user experience diary. These tools are specifically designed to allow users to document and report compliance gaps, operational bottlenecks, and integrity-related concerns in real-time, particularly within the evolving National Single Window framework.
Beyond training, the partnership will also assist with data collection, dashboard expansion, and the rollout of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) toolkit. It will further support policy advocacy and push for wider sector-wide reforms to entrench transparency.
Learning from Past Successes
The Chief Executive Officer of CBI, Olusoji Apampa, provided context for the collaboration, pointing to the success of anti-corruption reforms in the maritime sector that began over a decade ago. He revealed a stark example: in 2019, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) documented 266 cases of officials demanding large, unreceipted cash payments, effectively extorting ship captains.
Apampa credited the introduction of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the Nigerian Port Process Manual, and vigorous enforcement by the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) – supported by the DSS and ICPC – for a dramatic reduction in these cases. The number fell sharply to just 30 documented cases in 2024.
Despite this progress in vessel clearance, Apampa admitted that efforts to extend these reforms to cargo clearance and port corridor operations had stalled due to entrenched interests. This critical gap is what prompted CBI to seek a deeper partnership with CRFFN, leveraging its crucial role to sustain and expand the gains made against corruption.
