Even as stakeholders in the nation’s maritime sector eagerly await names of the interim members of the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), a leading freight forwarder and founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr Boniface Aniebonam has cautioned the Minister of transport; Senator Idris Umar against acts that may be a negation of the Council’s Act.
Even as stakeholders in the nation’s maritime sector eagerly await names of the interim members of the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), a leading freight forwarder and founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr Boniface Aniebonam has cautioned the Minister of transport; Senator Idris Umar against acts that may be a negation of the Council’s Act.
Dr Aniebonam, in a letter to the minister advised that as much as it is within the CRFFN Act that the minister can give direction to the Council, such must not be misconstrued as absolute powers to run the Council like an agency under the ministry of transport.
“The power of the Minister to give direction and character to the Council is not absolute. Section 5 of the Act when read together with the rest of the Act makes it very clear the intendment of the Act as to the premium it places on consultations, since it recognizes the Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum and the Congress’, the letter stated.
Urging the minister to exercise restraints before constituting the much-expected interim governing council, he stated that rather than act as if the CRFFN is an agency under the ministry, the minister should consult widely.
According to him, “therefore to act unilaterally may be in breach of the Act that requires partnership and due consultations with the registered members. Again the categories of registered members that form the register of freight forwarders are three in number – the Individual, Corporate and Registered Associations. These three groups of private membership are the real owners of the CRFFN”
“Honourable Minister, Sir, any attempt to administer the Council without their mandate or input may be in breach of the Act”, he pointed out.
According to Dr Aniebonam in the letter which was copied to Shipping Position Daily, “the CRFFN was domiciled in the Transport Ministry in order to give it impetus and necessary protection to meet the desired interest of its establishment.”
He however lamented that “recent happenings in the Council suggest that you seem to see the Council as a Parastatal of the Transport Ministry, whereas the CRFFN Act has told us that membership of the Council does confer status of public servant on the elected members of the Council”, even as he added that, “this is why the Chairman of the Council must be an elected member whose name is in the register of CRFFN. We wish to draw your attention to the fact that the Chairman of CRFFN is not an appointee of Mr. President as it is in the case of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Security Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) and Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) etc.”
“We therefore suggest that while constituting the new interim Governing body of the Council you may draw representatives from the three categories of registered members and a few from government representatives like NIMASA, Maritime Academy Oron and NIWA to form the steering Council with a mandate to organize sustainable election.’
In the letter, he also suggested that the former DG of NIMASA; Mrs. Usoro Mfon Usoro, a maritime consultant; Mallam Galtima Liman and a reknown maritime economist; Chief Chris Asoluka be brought into the council “to help in bringing the Council back on track.”
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