The decision of the Governing Council of the Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria(CRFFN) to appoint the Director of Regulations and Enforcement Mrs. Chinyere Uromta as Acting Registrar has been described as a violation of CRFFN Act of 2007, therefore amounts to illegality.
According to Mr. Chidi Opara, a registered freight forwarder in a statement, “The CRFFN establishment act in part 3, section 11, subsection 1, provides for the appointment of “a fit and proper person” to perform the functions of Registrar. Subsection 2 specifies the functions.
“At no point in the CRFFN establishment act was provision made for the position of ‘Acting Registrar’. There is also no provision for the position of Deputy or Assistant Registrar. Therefore, this action is a violation of the CRFFN establishment act(Act 16 of 2007). He asserted.
Recall that the Governing Council of CRFFN had risen from an emergency general council meeting on Thursday and directed its Registrar, Barrister Sam Nwakohu to handover to the most senior officer in the agency; Mrs Chinyere Uromta Director Regulations and Enforcement on 31st of January 2023.
The meeting which took place at the Council’s office in Abuja was chaired by Dr. Abubakar Tsanni, chairman of the governing council
In a communique made available to the press after the meeting, the chairman Committee on Media and Publicity of the governing council, Hon. Muftahu Ya’u, the CRFFN Committee on Appointment Promotion and Discipline had been mandated to go ahead to start preparations for re-appointment/appointment of a new Registrar.
Our correspondent in Abuja reported that the outgoing Registrar was humbled to the point of being driven with tears and emotions. He was said to have wept like a baby, while pleading for reappointment.
He had missed the opportunity of reapplying for the position as stipulated by law. He was supposed to have indicated interest in writing four months to the end of his tenure.
Nwakohu’s four years tenure as the Registrar of CRFFN has been punctuated by crises of different dimensions, leading to gross abuse of office and total loss of confidence in his person and capacity. Above all, according to operators, he has a huge dose of arrogant disposition and unmitigated relationship mismanagement, a reason was always pitched against the governing council, which has decided his fate.
Some say, he could be nice if you understand him.
However, all hopes may not have been lost for him as the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani is said to be rooting for his reappointment.
According to Opara, however, “The implications of going ahead with the illegality of the appointment of “Acting Registrar” would be that actions, etc, taken in that capacity would be null and void and of no effect whatsoever. Further implication would be that strict adherence to the rule of law in the subsector would have be seen as being further relegated.
To him,”The CRFFN Governing Council would have fast tracked the process of reappointment or appointment of a substantive Registrar before the expiration of the tenure of the present Registrar. In case of appointment of a new Registrar, the person so appointed would have assumed office immediately the tenure of the present Registrar expires. Having not done that, the Governing Council have created a vacuum that cannot be filled if the principle of adherence to the rule of law should be applied and seen to be applied strictly.
“What the Governing Council needs to do to control the present damage is to fast track the process of reappointment or appointment of a substantive Registrar and not this resort to “Acting Registrar” illegality”.He added.
