The Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has promised to work towards resuscitating the dying Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), even as it promised to prevail on the Federal Government to conduct an election into the governing board of the Council.
The Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has promised to work towards resuscitating the dying Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), even as it promised to prevail on the Federal Government to conduct an election into the governing board of the Council.
Briefing newsmen in Lagos over the weekend after the much-delayed elections into leadership positions in the board , the ANLCA board led by Chief Henry Njoku promised to intervene in the two-year lull in the CRFFN, which he attributed to the absence of a governing board.
Particularly, a member of the board who was the pioneer chairman of CRFFN, Mr Tony Nwabunike blamed the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and the Ministry of Transport for the seeming death of the Council, saying that it is the prerogative of the ministry to conduct an election.
Nwabunike said that ANLCA is a large and prominent member of the CRFFN and that it is ready to do things according to the rules.
"If we call the Council our own, what has happened for the past two years that we had no single freight forwarder on that council and we still call it Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, so I agree with you that CRFFN needs to be resuscitated", he stated.
According to him, "If you say the CRFFN is dying I will understand you, since after our election, the first pioneer election, another election has not been conducted and it is solely the duty of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council and the Ministry of Transport to conduct this election and as at today no election has been conducted"
"So the council which is an embodiment of freight forwarders is just being run by a registrar who is just an employee" Nwabunike noted.
According to him, the ANLCA board members as strong stakeholders in the CRFFN is now ready to push the Federal Government through the ministry of transport and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to conduct this election as a matter of emergency and urgency.
Another member of the ANLCA board who carried out accreditation of associations into the CRFFN, Chief Peter Obi defended the accreditation of five associations into the Council.
According to him, everything that was done in the registration was done according to the Act establishing the Council.
It would be recalled that ANLCA members, especially its National President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu had vehemently kicked against the registration of other smaller associations on the fact that they do not meet up the requirement laid down by the CRFFN.
But fielding questions from the press, Chief Peter Obi stated that: "What we are meant to do is regulate and control the associations, we cannot go out there and pick a vulcanizer to regulate, we cannot regulate outsiders".
Earlier, the board members had re-elected Chief Henry Njoku as its chairman, about six months after the board’s elections wee held.
Briefing newsmen in Lagos at the weekend, Coordinator of the board, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha said that a frontrunner in the build up to the election; Chief Ernest Elochukwu decided to concede the chairmanship position to Njoku in the overall interest of the ANLCA.
It would be recalled that the Board had suspended the election of its various positions six months ago due to a stalemate between Chief Njoku, Chief Elochukwu and another member, Hon. Tony Nwabunike.
However, after the official opening of the ANLCA National Secretariat on Friday, the board held a meeting, after which it announced that Chief Peter Obi has also been elected as its treasurer; Secretary of the board is Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, while Vice Chairman of the board is Aare Sanni Shittu.
"We agreed to operate as one, and as at today we are stronger than when we started, we agreed to move forward for the progress of ANLCA" Mustapha stated
The board also assured that it would review everything about the commissioning of the new ANLCA secretariat named after the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service to see if there was anything untoward.
Speaking, the new board chairman, Chief Henry Njoku however affirmed that the board maintains a cordial relationship with the national executives of ANLCA and that its presence at the secretariat commissioning is an attestation to this.
He said that contrary to insinuations that members of the board are too big to relate as one, the board is an indivisible family.
Njoku assured ANLCA members that the board will live up to expectation of its members as custodians of the association's constitution.
"We could have differences in terms of explaining what the constitution says, but if we were against the national, you will not see all of us at the commissioning, it shows that we can disagree and agree".
He pointed out that one of his greatest achievement in his first tenure as chairman of the board was the peace he brought into ANLCA which according to him has allowed development and peaceful coexistence.
Also speaking, former President of ANLCA and board member; Chief Ernest Elochukwu assured that everything done by the board is geared towards strengthening ANLCA.
"We want to assure that we will always maintain a cordial relationship with all and sundry in ANLCA while at the same time carrying out our role", Elochukwu said.
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