The Founder of the National Association Of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has restated that the Council of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) is not an agency of the government, but an autonomous agency with little government supervision.
Aniebonam, while speaking to Shipping Position Daily over the weekend urged the 9th senate to look at the CRFFN amendment Bill carefully before endorsing it.
He however said that the case to determine the status of CRFFN the matter is still before an Appellate Court where it will be decided whether the council is an agency of the government or a private sector agency.
According to him" It’s CRFFN that is my concern and the bill is before the National Assembly. I thank God that the bill did not scale through, because we were not very comfortable. We were in court for interpretation as to whether CRFFN was an agency of the government or not.
"At the Federal High Court, it was pronounced that CRFFN is an agency of the government. The court cannot say that CRFFN is an agency of the government when members of the Governing Council are elected members from the freight forwarding associations. If you say that CRFFN is an agency of the government, why doesn’t the government appoint all the council members?, he asked.
"Government only appoints the representatives of the six geo political zones.
"CRFFN in its position at the National Assembly during the public hearing was trying to get what they couldn’t get in court; they are coming through the back door. Right now, we are in Appeal Court on the subject matter and they are pushing the National Assembly to state that CRFFN is an agency of the government.
"Something is wrong somewhere. If CRFFN is an agency of the government, why are you bringing this position before the National Assembly for ratification? Now they want to ratify a matter that is still in the court awaiting hearing at the Appellate Court, it just doesn’t make sense.
"The expectation is still there and the good thing is that the 9th Assembly cannot just go ahead and endorse it. They will have to call a public hearing again, meanwhile, our appeal has been resuscitated." He said.
Aniebonam added that it will be too early to access the council as he urged that more time should be given to them to perform.
In his words "we need to give CRFFN the time to settle down. The board and the new leadership met an empty treasury. In the past, the affairs of CRFFN were seen to be sole administration with Mr. Mike Jukwe as the Registrar. CRFFN was in shambles and right now they need to pick the pieces back together. I think they need time to settle down before we can move to level of assessment.
"CRFFN is primarily saddled with the task of developing capacity because this is one major area that the government wants to address. When you know what you are doing and you are properly positioned to do it, you will do it perfectly”, he added.
Discussion about this post