Regulator Laments Lack of Media Coverage for Maritime Sector Policies

The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria has highlighted a significant gap in media coverage of regulatory activities and policy interventions within the maritime industry.

CRFFN’s Registrar, Mr. Kingsley Igwe, raised the concern when he received a delegation from the Maritime Media & Capacity Development Centre, led by its Chairman, Mr. Sesan Onileimo, at the Council’s headquarters in Lagos last week.

Igwe endorsed the MMCDC as a crucial initiative for closing long-standing gaps in maritime media professionalism and capacity building. He emphasized that structured engagement with professional media institutions is essential to improve public understanding of the Council’s work.

“Many regulatory activities and policy interventions within the maritime sector do not receive adequate media attention,” Igwe stated. He described the media capacity-building project as a long-overdue intervention to address intellectual and technical gaps in sectoral reporting.

To bridge this communication gap, the CRFFN has formally engaged First Mediacon Network Limited the promoter of the MMCDC as a strategic media partner. The partnership aims to enhance publicity, advocacy, and media management for the Council, ensuring clearer communication of its policies and reforms.

During the visit, Igwe was formally appointed to the MMCDC Advisory Board. He accepted the role, pledging the Council’s full support to contribute to the Centre’s success.

Mr. Onileimo explained that the MMCDC was established to equip maritime journalists and content creators with the knowledge needed to report on industry developments more authoritatively. “An uninformed media is a danger to society,” he noted, stressing the goal of raising practitioners who can engage with industry issues in depth.

The CRFFN is the statutory agency mandated to regulate, control, and standardize the practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria, established by an Act of Parliament in 2007.