The founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr Boniface Aniebonam has urged the embattled President of the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) to show responsibility in resolving the crises that have bedevilled the association.
Aniebonam in an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily questioned why some of the elders of ANLCA who have spent over 40 years in the association without any significant contribution to the development of the association still remain there.
He urged the President of the association, Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike to show leadership, rather than meddling in issues that are not supposed to be his concern.
“Tony Iju must show leadership, he is the executive President of ANLCA, some people have opportunity but they don’t know how to go about it, you are the executive President of ANCLA what’s your business with issues that have to do with the board of ANCLA, because the board has a limited access to issue of asset and liabilities, they have advisory capacities, you are to run ANLCA’s day-to-day activities”, he said.
When asked if he were to be the one in such shoes, what will be his approach to resolving the crisis he said, “such thing will never happen in NAGAFF, because NAGAFF is one big family, it is because there are interest groups that are avoidable and that have to do with leadership, NAGAFF is one happy family and that’s what it will be, because they are made to understand that they are one body. Just few days ago I issued a review and I told them anybody involved in blackmail or gossip has no place in NAGAFF”, he concluded.
He advised that the president of ANCA should rise above pettiness, even as he counselled that the president should understand his position in ANLCA and should not allow a few individuals to control him.
He said for ANLCA to move forward, it must create room for the younger freight forwarders to soar, by exposing them to manpower development and creating opportunities for them.
In his words “ANCLA is matured enough to take responsibility on their own, and we are in pain here because NAGAFF and ANCLA are big organizations and two of us are supposed to combine efforts to be able us address some of the issues at the ports, but its most unfortunate what’s its going on there”.
“But what worries me so much is that some of these ANCLA members have been in this ANCLA thing for the past 40 to 45 years and what are they doing there”
“At what level did they provide opportunity for the young freight forwarders to be able to do things on their own? I was the first President of NAGAFF about 20 years ago; six years after I exited, since then we have been grooming people; training them and creating opportunity for the young ones”
“Why are these old people still there in ANLCA, what is the particular thing that they are getting out of it, rather than add value to the economy and then create capacity for the young ones that will take over from all of us”, he noted.
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