The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has condemned the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola for allowing the reconstruction of the failed Wharf road in Apapa to private companies to fund.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the Federal Government in June 2017 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and Flour Mill to reconstruct Apapa Wharf road at N4.3billion.
But, speaking on our sister platform; Shipping Position Live on Star FM 101.5 on Monday, National President of NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche noted that the ministry of Works under Fashola is not discharging its responsibilities properly as regards the Apapa port roads.
Chief Uche lamented that the situation at the port is worrisome as trucks can no longer access the port to load and discharge empty containers. He said that the situation is already taking its toll on port stakeholders and this would also have adverse effect on the nation's economy
He lamented the bad condition of road infrastructure linking Tin Can Island Port to Apapa Port and the one linking Tin Can Port to Mile 2.
"The situation at the port is worrisome, things are not in order, the roads are not there, there is no clear-cut clearance procedure in place, vehicles cannot come into the port to load, empty containers cannot be discharged at the terminals, what is going on is regrettable and a sorry situation"
"Though the NPA Managing Director is doing her best, the Shippers Council Executive Secretary is doing his best, the Customs is also trying, but the decay in the system is so enormous than government’s intervention. Look at the port access roads, why should the government abandon it to Flour Mills and Dangote for them to rehabilitate? Is it because the ministry itself is not functioning?"
"The ministry of Works, Power and Housing under Babatunde Fashola has the sole responsibility of fixing the federal road", he argued.
Meanwhile, Increase has denied that the association is only for freight forwarders who are of Igbo extraction. He stressed that NAGAFF is not an Igbo association.
"NAGAFF is a national association and anybody giving the notion that NAGAFF is an Igbo association is being myopic, we have a national spread, we are fully established in the North Central, North West, North East and the West. Most of our chapter chairmen are from the West, some are from the North. In KLT and Airport chapters we have Yoruba chairmen there; Adeoye and Segun Musa, if you go to Abuja the same thing is applicable there, in the Northern chapters we have chairmen who are of Northern extraction", he said.
He said that the association has dissolved it's National Executive Committee (NECOM) in order to hold fresh elections.
According to him, "The dissolution is in line with our constitution, it is also in line with international best practices and FIATA module that we should always reposition for greater productivity. It is also in line with the issue that has to do with current changes in the industry"
"I am just coming in as the President of NAGAFF, I need to harness the entire facets of the association, we want to increase productivity by so doing.
Constitutionally the NECOM would be reconstituted very soon but the bulk of the decision does not stop at my table"
"What we have done is to lift ban on electioneering campaign at the chapters, looking at our pattern of operation, we started elections at the chapter level in 2009.
For now, the first and second election have been conducted, we now want to give other people level playing ground so that they can start preparing in earnest"
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