Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, in this interview with our correspondent, Dapo Olawuni says that his association is no longer a member of Maritime Advocacy and Action Group (MAAG). He also spoke on the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and other sundry issues.
Do you think Nigerian ports are well fortified against attacks?
Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, in this interview with our correspondent, Dapo Olawuni says that his association is no longer a member of Maritime Advocacy and Action Group (MAAG). He also spoke on the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and other sundry issues.
Do you think Nigerian ports are well fortified against attacks?
The most important thing is for us to be alert, considering the situation in the country in matter of security, before now, Nigeria has been a signatory to the ISPS Code and I have always advocated that we must profile those who go into our ports, attacks are usually carried out by human beings, so at what point do you now take responsibility of profiling those who go into the port. I find it surprising when agents of government refuse to do what they were assigned to do, it is not all about having checkpoints all around, there must be profiling of everyone who goes into the ports, NPA is the chief security officer of the port via the office of the commissioner of police, I will expect them to take a list of port users through the organized private sectors like NAGAFF, ANLCA and the other smaller associations, the truck owners, the dockworkers and so on, we must have the records of everyone that goes into the port everyday, I don't know what is difficult in it, the Managing Director of the NPA should provide enough logistics for the commissioner of police to be able to look at security at the ports.
Don't you think it is time to introduce automation at our ports?
When you introduce automation, it cannot work in isolation without profiling, since the number of the people going into the ports are so much we need to profile them, as it is, nobody can rule out the issue of threats and attacks on the port, as far as I am concerned, the measures in place are not adequate, all we need to do is to fund the police to carry out their statutory role, if you don't sponsor the police they will be doing it manually.
What is the relationship like presently between NAGAFF and MAAG
Technically NAGAFF is not in the Maritime Advocacy and Action Group (MAAG), it is of no use, consider NAGAFF as not being in that body and I am speaking as the founder of NAGAFF, MAAG is not relevant to NAGAFF, we cannot continue forming all these bodies, what about the Port Consultative Council, the most strategic organisation should be the PCC with the backing of the government as domiciled in the Nigerian Ports Authority, running from pillar to post will not help the port system.
What are your expectations from the CRFFN now that the secretariat is in Lagos?
Honestly the leadership of CRFFN needs to move fast because the next problem will be so much for them. I am saying this with passion, NAGAFF is a pioneer association as far as CRFFN is concerned and as it is now we are not really happy the way the leadership of CRFFN is going, and how do you explain this? The governing council has been dissolved for close to three years now and one person is just running the council, and you come out and tell us you have set up task forces to start arresting people, is that what we are talking about, as I am talking to you now, there is an issue that is unbelievable, as if CRFFN is not an Act of the National Assembly.
Have you tried approaching the Minister of Transport on this?
Even though we continue to approach the minister, where does that take us to? Do we need to approach the minister that the CRFFN Council has been dissolved for the past four years and a sole administrator is in charge, as at now, more than N1billion has passed through CRFFN and yet there is nothing tangible for us to show, the most worrisome aspect of it is that the registered members of CRFFN cannot point to what they have benefitted from CRFFN as opposed to what you see from those who have licenses from customs. I have said it severally that there is need to harmonize the operational existence of the CRFFN as an Act of National Assembly and the Customs and Excise Management Act for a seamless operation. I have also said it that freight forwarding is a profession while licensing regulation by customs is a vocation, and we are building a profile of professional freight forwarders that can practice outside Nigeria, shipping is a global business.
Honestly, the tension is rising in NAGAFF as far as the leadership of Jukwe is concerned, CRFFN is the centre point of professionalism as far as freight and logistics is concerned, even most of the problems experienced in the port today can be resolved by the CRFFN because every agency of the government including Customs, Shippers Council, NIMASA, NACCIMA are all represented inside the Council.
Are you now saying that the leadership of NAGAFF is passing a vote of no confidence on CRFFN?
I have not said so, but we may end up saying so if this thing continues.
How will you react to the issuing of different alerts on cargoes by the customs?
Alert is supposed to be a guide based on suspicion, what we should be discussing now is the abuse inherent in the alert, we have all seen that PAAR is advisory document as far as people are not compliant to trade regulations, and the government is highly interested in its revenue, alert is supposed to point to infraction and alert the officer to watch out, customs is trying to make it easy for people to do their businesses at the port and that is why it put a stop to local alerts, but whether you like it or not, local alerts adds impetus to government’s revenue because we are not compliant.
By January 1st government will start implementation of 70% tariff on imported used vehicles, looking at the emerging austerity measures; do you think it is advisable?
The only consolation is for us to look at the side of patriotism and sacrifice, otherwise it is of no essence adding hardships and suffering on the people, Nigeria as it is now does not have a developed transport system, in order words, the use of cars is a necessity compared to other countries where the transport system is properly developed, you don't need your car because you will find out that it is easier for you to jump into a train or buses and you will get to where you are going, but here in Nigeria we don't have that, aside from this we have not got a replacement. Even when we talk about getting local manufacturers or assembly, in a corrupt society like ours, there have been abuses in this. We have said that the older the vehicle the higher the rate of duties, the newer the vehicle the lower rate of duty, this creates opportunity for choice.
Do you think government is sincere about developing local manufacturing plants?
We can say they are serious, but it is the implementation aspect of it that is worrisome. For example, people complain about the President on matters of security of the state, but the President has delegated powers, is he the one that will go and catch Boko Haram? Is he the one that will stay at checkpoints? He has delegated powers, he is not the one to prosecute somebody, the judiciary is there to do their job, the only place we might say there is challenge is in finance, but if you observe closely you will also realise that funding is not a problem, it is corruption, our problem in Nigeria is that we make laws but we don't enforce the law.
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