…..Promises Better Times, If Elected
Even as the minister of transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman has reconstituted the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) and plans to elect a new chairman have begun, the outgoing vice chairman of the council, Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju has stated that the path to greatness for Nigerian freight forwarders is in the adoption of the policy of local content in the nation’s logistic chain.
The vice chairman who is also aspiring to be the next chairman of the council told reporters in Lagos that the sooner the country began to think of indigenizing freight forwarding, the better for its economy. “It is done in other countries, why can’t we do it here, why can’t we ensure that we give preference to Nigerians in the freight forwarding arm of the nation’s import and export business”, he argued, even as he agreed that indigenous practitioners still have a lot of things to learn from their counterparts in other parts of the world. “We will get there, but let the government listen to our demand for local content in freight forwarding, it will help the profession and ultimately help the economy”, he argued.
Alhaji Olanrewaju who is also a member of the elite International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA) and the global freight forwarders’ networking group; World Cargo Alliance however stated that the objectives of creating the CRFFN are gradually becoming a reality and that the next few years would see a new dispensation for the freight forwarding profession and its practitioners in Nigeria.
According to him, the fact that CRFFN is an agent of change is becoming apparent to all and recent developments have also clearly shown that Nigerian freight forwarders are already joining their cotemporaries in the global freight forwarding family.
Alhaji Olanrewaju told journalists ahead of the elections that a lot of work has been done in the last two years to put the Council on a strong footing even in the face of challenges. “It took a while for us to commence real activities, but you will bear me witness that we have since covered a lot of grounds”, he observed.
He also expressed appreciation to the minister of transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman for his support to the council and members of the governing council for their loyalty and commitment to duty. “We were blessed with a very good team, and we have a very hard working registrar who knows his onions and who is deploying his competence in the discharge of his responsibilities.”
According to him, Nigeria’s emergence as a member of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA) and World Cargo Alliance is a confirmation of its rising profile and the result of the hard work of CRFFN Governing council.
He however stressed that his priority if elected chairman of the CRFFN Governing Council is to make use of his links and connections at both FIATA and WCA to ensure that Nigerian freight forwarders are trained by the two global bodies.
“I will use my wide connections within the two bodies to the advantage of freight forwarders, our membership is not just to attend their meetings, I know them very well and I intend to see that Nigeria gets trained in modern methods of doing this job. “
“Nigerian freight forwarders have operated as local champions for too long, hence the undue advantage that multinationals are having, but we will use the next dispensation to get on the global stage on a large scale without losing our relevance at home”’ he stated , even as he acknowledged that Nigeria freight forwarders represent a very strong factor in trans-border trade.
“You can not over-emphasize the role of freight forwarders in the logistics chain and even in the nation’s seaports, airports and border posts, but we are often not recognized because of where we were coming from. I know that with proper training and adoption of modern, more decent and faster ways of doing our jobs, we can also raise our shoulders very high among the comity of freight forwarding practitioners”, he said.
The frontline and highly- respected freight forwarder explained that he places premium on training and manpower development, hence his desire to devote his tenure as chairman to training and the over all upliftment of the skills of Nigerian practitioners.
Acknowledging that the average Nigerian freight forwarder can not level up with his counterparts in other African countries, Alhaji Olanrewaju, however argued that whatever grounds that have been lost can be regained if a round peg is out in a round hole.
“I have the international connection within the global bodies to influence attention to the Nigerian freight forwarder and make us benefit from the huge training opportunities attached to our membership of both FIATA and WCA. We didn’t join these bodies to add to the number, we joined to appropriate the benefits and we can only achieve these by putting the right people there”, said.
He equally expressed concern about the plight of up-coming freight forwarder s who have been made to believe that the way freight forwarding is being practiced in Nigeria is the norm. “It is not so and the sooner those of us who have been here long enough refocus them, the better for the nation”, submitted, even as he acknowledged that “freight forwarding is global and the world can not lower its standards for us, we must aspire to meet global best practices, so that we can also be reckoned with”.
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