Chief Achike Molokwu (ANLCA, Tin Can)
Chief Achike Molokwu (ANLCA, Tin Can)
You have the authentic list of registered members, why don’t they just roll it out so that we can go for elections and bring new people into office. The fact still remains that in this industry, there are powerful personalities, if they are not there things will not work. This committee that was set up for the CRFFN cannot go far, they cannot achieve anything, because there some powerful personalities somewhere and they have refused to invite them, Hakeem Olanrewaju happens to know the politics of the council, let him liaise with the first chairman, Tony Nwabunike, they should bring out a guideline that can revive the council. I believe they have it in their hands, then Olayiwola Shittu should be carried along in anything they are doing, the founder of NAGAFF should also be carried along, whether they like it or not they should invite Lucky Amiwero, these are people who fought from the scratch and their spirit is aggrieved, they should be persuaded and brought back in so that they can suggest the way forward. Nigeria is for everybody.
Ugochukwu Nnadi (NAGAFF, Deputy President)
In Nigeria, there are many people that have good intentions for the country, and these people have never ceased to bring out such intentions, most times they go to the extent of spending their money, but the unfortunate thing is that as long as the powers-that-be are not interested in whatever move that they are making, every effort will be in futility. The move is good and worthy, for one man to come out it means that he has the interest of the nation at heart apart from the council itself, because the council is an integral part of the nation, but the question now is that are the powers-that-be that are interested in what he is doing? You can see that every association is responding positively, but in regards to the government side, what efforts have they made to approach the transport ministry. It is like some interested parties do not want the council to survive, even thought the council is our council, yet the government is seeing it as a parastatal, it is an independent council that should be allowed to run itself, but the government is too overbearing, the customs is also interested, why was a custom man included in the interim committee and the freight forwarder is not there, it means they don’t have good intentions.
Kanikwu Davis Chucks (Secretary, Tin Can, ANLCA)
I believe it is a positive move in the right direction because the CRFFN is supposed to be a regulatory body for freight forwarders, it was politicized from the beginning and this made the council not to attain the laudable height it is supposed to get to, but this time around that they are making these peace moves, I believe things will be much better and the real concept of the council will come to fore. My advice to this seven-man committee is to forget their personal egos and misgivings; they should come together and articulate a proper policy that is in tandem with the Act establishing the CRFFN. I guess most of them were not well grounded in what they came there to do, but I believe with the first experiment they must have learnt and be able to fine-tune the council to be a regulatory body.
Charles Mbuba (NAGAFF, PTML)
The council was established by an Act of the Federal Government, whether anybody likes it or not the council has come to stay, the meeting that some stakeholders have been holding is good and I sincerely believe it will yield positive result as far as these people are men of integrity, but I will advise them not to be biased or selfish, they should have the public interest at heart, they should not be talking for themselves alone but for the generality of freight forwarders.
Offiong Emmanuel (NCMDLCA)
The seven-man committee set up by leaders of registered freight forwarding associations is a welcome development. I think if they all work in harmony with common ideas, they will have a positive result at the end of the day. I see the development as one that can yield result in reviving CRFFN. We can no longer sleep with one side as regards what we are facing in the industry, so there is the need to revamp CRFFN and the people that make up that committee are all professionals in terms of freight forwarding practice in the industry and we expect that when it finally bounces back, the need to build capacity must be key in their agenda.
Tunji Obagbo (POTEMAN)
From all indications, I believe it is a welcome development and going by the names on the list of members on that committee I think in no distance time, the problem with CRFFN will be a thing of the past. A man like Chief Eugene Nweke the president of NAGAFF on his own has a very good motive because he is one of the brains behind the setting up of CRFFN, so with the collaboration of the seven wise men in place then, the motive of the committee must be paramount and I expect them to work as team to achieve the set goals without bias and with that they will definitely succeed. I have confidence in the committee and I also believe that they will deliver on the mandate set aside for them to resuscitate the council.
David Pius (Port Activist)
In such instances the government through the minister of transport has a very important role to play, if all the leaders in the various freight forwarding associations decide to come together to revamp CRFFN and the minister of transport is not involved, then I think it will never yield result. The seven-man committee set up recently to find ways to reinstate the council is coming at a time when things have gone from bad to worse. Even if they eventually resurrect the council without the ministry’s intervention it will still fall again, thus there is the need for the federal government to take a decision on how and when it intends to revive CRFFN because it was established by an Act of Parliament which is legal and binding among freight forwarders. And in all of these, the interest the government must be protected. Since they have realized that it is important to resurrect the council, I think the people must be of paramount importance to them rather than individuals, if eventually they are able to revamp the council.
Chief Chidiebere Enelamah (Chairman BOT NAGAFF)
I think the seven-man committee put in place will rejuvenate CRFFN because I believe that with the meeting that eventually brought out the committee is for the betterment of freight forwarding associations and the practice. And I will love to say that in no distance time when the council speaks, freight forwarders will listen and I am optimistic that the last meeting held to revamp the council was the right step.
Mr Ngozi Uzohuo (Chairman, NAGAFF, Port Harcourt Port)
Let me say that the coming of CRFFN was a welcome development. Its establishment gave everyone hope, because it was believed that it will address obvious problems.Presently, it’s regrettable that the individual and personal interests in CRFFN is trying to distract the original good intention of forming the body.
One major issue at inception was that of under utilization of the Eastern Ports. With CRFFN, freight forwarders see it as an umbrella to pursue collective interest.
Unfortunately, what we have today is a CRFFN that is not focused. The issue of 1% service charge on duty payable for was expected to be championed by the body. Instead, CRFFN abandoned that and concentrated on collection of fees from members. So the issue of money became a major concern of the body. If CRFFN must move forward, the leadership must go back and correct itself.
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