By Kenneth Jukpor
The Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has charged the five registered freight forwarding associations which are: NAGAFF, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN) and Nigerian Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) to desist from the forthcoming election of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
Aniebonam made this call in Lagos where he argued that the Transportation Ministry has never added value to the Council aside from the fact that it failed to adhere to its promise of conducting the election within two weeks counting from the day he met with the contestants on the 26th of January this year.
He alleged that the Ministry is breaching the CRFFN Act by trying to appoint members into the Council instead of being elected while postulating that the election has been rigged already before the poll.
Speaking on the VIN valuation crisis and protests, Aniebonam blamed the withdrawal of service by freight forwarders in the last five days on the lack of effectiveness and Inefficiencies of CRFFN in its role to sensitize and educate people in the business.
“Transportation Ministry has not been adding value to CRFFN. I’ve said many times that CRFFN was not a parastatal of the Transport Ministry. This matter is pending at the court of Appeal up till today, we are following it up. Transport Ministry has been doing what they like as far as I’m concerned. The purpose of CRFFN is not being met at all. One of the major essences of the Council is to educate freight forwarders.”
“The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Magdalene Ajani was at Eko Hotel last year for a stakeholders meeting to discuss the sharing formula. The decision was taken among the five registered freight forwarding associations on issues on the election. But unfortunately, the Ministry of Transportation stood to negate the sharing formula ahead of the election which till today has not seen the light of the day. The other day, the Minister gave two weeks for the election to be conducted, but where are we now?”
“Another thing, the Transport Ministry tends to be more interested in the individual contestants other than the registered associations of the council. What does that mean? And as you can see, the election has been rigged before the time. Here we have Increase Uche for instance, as the only sole candidate at the airport in Port Harcourt. That means, no contest. Here in Lagos, we have over 10 or 15 of them, and just like that. So, you’ve already rigged the election. This was how the maiden election was rigged. The implication was that people that have no knowledge about freight forwarding went and occupy the Council.”
“Even this election that is coming, I’m wondering why the registered freight forwarding associations are still in the election. People must learn how to make sacrifices in order to protect the originality of an Act. This is because we have agreed on what we want; that’s the essence of regulation and if the Transportation Ministry is saying something else, then we leave it to them.”
The NAGAFF Founder added that he expects the registered freight forwarding associations to proceed to the National Assembly and protest to draw attention to these breaches by the Transportation Ministry.
“Now, they have issues in the port and CRFFN is calling leaders of freight forwarding associations for a meeting, okay, why are you calling us now? Why not call the individuals?”
“The remote cause for the withdrawal of service by freight forwarders is due to CRFFN inadequacy. If CRFFN is working well, this withdrawal of service will not go on. First of all, those they are dealing with in the port, to what extent are they positioned to do their jobs? That’s the duty of CRFFN; Training, knowledge, skills. They should be able to interpret Customs when customs is talking. The issue is that Customs is talking; freight forwarders are talking different things. There’s a communication gap; that means there’s a lack of knowledge” Aniebonam added.
