Democratising the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders

The history of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) actually started  in 2000, from the two-room office of its founder, who became its pioneer president and later its pioneer chairman of  Board of Trustees (BoT); Dr Boniface Aniebonam.
History will forever remember him for fighting all odds (including frequent visitation to Police stations and subsequent humiliation and harassment) to ensure that the NAGAFF dream did not die.

The history of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) actually started  in 2000, from the two-room office of its founder, who became its pioneer president and later its pioneer chairman of  Board of Trustees (BoT); Dr Boniface Aniebonam.
History will forever remember him for fighting all odds (including frequent visitation to Police stations and subsequent humiliation and harassment) to ensure that the NAGAFF dream did not die.
The story of NAGAFF can not be separated from the sojourn of its founder in the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), where he served, first  as chairman of customs agents’ relations committee of the Apapa chapter of association of ANLCA, under the then- chairman; Mr Onyebuchi Katsina Uzor.
He was later to be elevated; albeit in the same position at the national level of ANLCA by the then- national president; Alhaji Sani Kamba.
It was from ANLCA that NAGAFF sprang out.
It can be argued that the birth of NAGAFF gave ‘its mother’; the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents enough reasons to buckle up. Were it not for NAGAFF and the challenges it gave, ANLCA would probably have been a dead association by now.
Those early years, when NAGAFF, through the robust propaganda and public relations instrumentality of its founder, was enjoying soaring prominence, ANLCA was being erased from prominence.
Without mentioning names, some of those who took over the rein of power in ANLCA were obviously never really prepared for it or were not quite competent for it. Otherwise, how does one explain the fact that the NAGAFF enjoyed more prominence and commanded more recognition that ANLCA in its infancy.
Perhaps, because of the circumstances of its birth, which necessitated its being ran like a private estate, NAGAFF was synonymous with the persona of its founder; Dr Aniebonam.
It’s on record that Dr Aniebonam acquired the now-famous NAGAFF village and made it a rallying point for different stakeholders in the maritime industry.  The NAGAFF village is always a beehive of activities; always home to dozens of young freight forwarders in search of livelihood.
Without equivocation, NAGAFF has since metamorphosed from being a ‘Lagos-only’ association into a bigger body, with representation in different parts of the country.
It has also matured into an emerging democracy, organising elections into its chapters in Lagos and eastern ports as well as border stations.
But, from what we can see, the association has dropped the toga of selectocracy, by virtue of the on-going arrangement for the elections.
As a maritime media outfit, we however believe very strongly that, for the association to continue to be seen as truly democratised, it must ensure that elections are conducted for all its positions, at the chapter and the national executive council levels.
Importantly, those so elected should also be allowed to serve their terms fully, unless there is a clear case of violation of the constitution of the association.
We think that, while the influence of its Founder; Dr Aniebonam can not be wished away, he has also strategically distanced himself from  the day-to-day running of the association, preferring that the national president and the association’s board of trustees chair should handle such issues.
More of this statesmanship is expected of him as NAGAFF matches to limelight as an association that is bound by the tenets of democracy.
But, even though we had commended the association in the past for embracing democracy, emerging developments tend to suggest that, NAGAFF is having a challenge conducting elections into its national executive council.
By its simplest and most common definition, democracy is “government of the people by the people and for the people’. Hence, majority of NAGAFF members (and not one or few individuals) should be allowed to run the association. This is the only way it can continue to give hope to its teaming population of young and old practitioners, as well as its crop of educated, but largely untrained practitioners.
Its romance with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), which informed its insistence that all electorates in its recently conducted chapter elections must be registered members of CRFFN, is perhaps one of the most commendable decisions it has taken in recent times.
At the risk of being seen as his apologist, we strongly believe that the tenure of the incumbent president; Chief Eugene Nweke has transformed NAGAFF. The association’s deliberate policy of partnering with its former arch rival; ANLCA has paid off, thanks to Nweke, who at the onset of his tenure saw no reason in continuous acrimony with ANLCA.
If the association sees reason with us that he must continue, then it must be legitimized through the instrumentality of its constitution.
Democracy is not a dash, but a marathon. NAGAFF has embraced it, it can’t afford to retreat.