The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has again condemned in strong terms the arresting of already cleared goods from the port by the officials of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
The association has said the ct is against the Act that established the body adding that it is acting contrary to the laws of the country.
Speaking at a media parley last week, the National President of NAGAFF, Chief Eugene Nweke said the said the action was a total contravention of the rule of law even as he said it constituted unnecessary bottleneck in the supply chain.
He however advised SON to partner with the other government agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) inn sharing information without necessarily impinging on trade.
Nweke lamented that the activities of the SON officials was not only having negative impact on the economy of the country but also constituted a menace to the freight forwarders.
He stated further that despite the presence of the body in the port, the market is still fraught with substandard products asking why the need for them in the port.
“If all the goods that come into the country has to be registered with SONCAP and this SONCAP is a conformity assessment document and that means that the products now have national standard, how come there are so many fake and substandard products in the country?” He queried.
Also speaking, the Founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam said that if the Organisation had any issue with any imported good into the country, it should raise it through the customs trade hub since they have access to it instead of arresting containers on the road.
Dr. Aniebonam said that the organisation leadership had been inviting to stakeholders’ meetings on several occasions but would not bulge for them to explain why they are doing what they do.
It could be recalled that a group under the umbrella of Maritime Advocac y Action Group (MAAG) recently called a press briefing where they solicited for cooperation with the SON adding that they were acting within the purview of their mandate.
The group went further to canvass for synergy with the organisation for it to carry out its statutory functions without hitches even as they called on the Federal Government to increase funding of the organisation as well as the personnel.
