In a manner that was surprising to some operators at the chapter, Mr Cosmas Ndimkora was six months ago elevated to the post of Chairman of PTML chapter of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) while his predecessor, Mr Ugochukwu Nnadi was said equally ‘ promoted’ to the NAGAFF headquarters. In this interview with Dapo Olawuni, Mr Ndimkora spoke on the intrigues behind the actions and other sundry industry matters.
Why was the former chairman of this chapter, Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi removed?
If you are a Governor, there are things you are supposed to do, so as the chairman of NAGAFF in PTML, there are levies you are supposed to pay to the national headquarters, and haven been here for two years and not being able to pay, this is the underlining factor, the remunerations were not going round, he was doing it all alone, nobody does it all alone, it is a collective thing and when you are with your people, you should feel their pulse, know what their problem is and formulate ideas on how to tackle it. His main problem was that he was not carrying his executives along, since I came here, every of my executives knows what they are supposed to do, everybody is happy, if you check the environment you will find out that it is more robust than before, there are things you do that will show that you know what leadership is all about, we are practicing democracy and it is not a one-man thing, it is a government by the people for the people, so his problems were that he was not paying his remunerations and secondly, it was a one man band. But now, there is a new lease of life and everybody is expressing themselves because they have been given the avenue to do so; my motto has always been that together we will do it better.
Since you took over, have there been any rifts between you and the former chairman?
No, there has never been and there will not be, because we are all from one family, when we say ‘Up NAGAFF’ we say ‘Worldwide’ when we say Worldwide, we say ‘One Family’, we are all members of one family, leadership and everyday life is about learning, he must have learnt one or two things that he should have done and didn’t do, this is why I encourage my executives to always be expressive if there is anything I am doing that is not good, the good you can do to me is to call my attention to my short-comings, no man is an island, we sat down together most of the time and agree, I have never taken a unilateral decision.
How are you sure your tenure will not also be suddenly terminated as chairman?
That is why I told you that I am not doing it alone, it is all of us, nobody is doing it alone, nobody is fighting anybody because we agree to take any decision, the glory is to me that it is my tenure that many things are happening, like we have the new canopy, the flags, the meetings we do have and so on, I don’t see any crack here.
What are the other plans you have for this chapter?
We have procured two computers and we are trying to create a space at the chapter, the plan is that on Saturday, I will have a meeting with Professor Ojo from UNILAG for him to be coming in Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for two hours and lecture us on freight forwarding and shipping, the best legacy you can leave for anybody anywhere is education and that is what I want to leave here. Apart from this, I have two resource persons here, one came from IFF, the Customs public relations officer has been here to lecture us on some things and we are queuing in, because everybody know the importance of education in this our profession, freight forwarding is a professional business that is not meant for touts, it is not something you fight about, it is explanatory, so you need to go to school so that you will be able to understand your tariffs and be able to classify it appropriately. All these things are what I want to teach them, you know this place is a car port, all they want to know is how to carry documents, ask them the HS code of vehicle, they don’t know; all they want to know is to exchange money, document signed and the vehicle is out, this is not freight forwarding. If you want to survive in the business, you must know what it is all about and you can’t do this if you don’t update yourself, so this is why I want to gradually upgrade those that do not have it at all.
What are the challenges at PTML port?
There are so many of them, one is that when you become a chairman, everybody thinks the whole money is inside your office, people do not want to do anything again, they just believe that chairman must bring something, this has been a challenge to all chairmen, and again there are some overzealous Customs officers, but we have a good CAC and he told us that whenever we have any problems or disagreements with any officer, we should not react until we get to him, whenever such happens and we get to him he answers us. So I will say there are not many challenges. In terms of work, Grimaldi is doing well but there are some aspects that I don’t like, if you move from the end of Maersk line terminal to the end of PTML terminal, there is no designated place where freight forwarders can ease themselves, so I want to use this opportunity to beg Askani Arusso to please give us a small toilet that somebody can be manning from morning till 6pm which is end of work for us here, so that we can ease ourselves as at when due and stop messing up his terminal. If you enter the terminal you will see spots where people are easing themselves, it’s because there is no convenience, the few ones that are here are built inside Custom offices for officers, this is why I am begging Grimaldi management to please provide us conveniences, sometimes you see women easing on themselves, a 40 year old woman cannot hold her urinary system for more than 30 minutes and that is just it.
Other than this, are you saying that all is rosy at PTML port?
I wouldn’t say that all is well and good, but we have been battered to the extent that we take anything that comes our way, the freight forwarding body has been battered so much that whatever we are given, we swallow it hook, line and sinker. Also, the CRFFN as a body is not helping matters, they are not interceding on our behalf; they are not talking. Sometimes there are delays, sometimes you must have finished your Customs procedures waiting for your cargo at Mile 2 while the cargo will not be there, we met the management and we told them, but they told us it’s due to their badge, that their badge takes 30 vehicles at once, and when you are carrying more than 600 vehicles, sometimes it takes three days, then I ask them why they have to start the demurrage when it takes them longer to transfer from their terminal, because people are already queuing up to carry their vehicles but they are not there, and when they eventually deliver the vehicles to mile 2, it is already carrying two to three days demurrage. But, like I said, we have been beaten so hard that whatever we are given we take, this is the angle we are going to pursue, to make sure that they start their counting from the day the goods in question gets to the port of discharge; which is Mile 2.
Do you agree there are too many touts trooping into the ports on daily basis?
There are so many things that are wrong in this country, most of these boys you see here are graduates, they are here because there is no job, and a man cannot stay without food, if your father manages to see you through school, he expects you to start something, after service and you are still sitting at home, how will you feel? There are people who come here for genuine business but anywhere there is ‘12’, there must be one ‘Judas’. But be that as it may, I still fault the Customs raiding this place, for me it is effrontery, because I am sitting here as chairman of NAGAFF, the chairman of ANLCA is here also, if you feel there are people constituting nuisance you have to let us know, if they are our boys, we will weed them out, if they are not our boys we will help you to prosecute them, because they are not holding my identity card or that of ANLCA, but barging in on us and arresting everybody does not make sense, it makes it look as if the chairmen here are not in control, though they did not come here, they went to Tin Can, but if you use the measurement there, you will know what will be measured to you too. Again, you will find out that the CRFFN has not reacted over that issue, this is the umbrella body of freight forwarders, even as we speak, the registrar has not reacted.
How can the crisis in CRFFN be resolved?
Going back to the basics, when you start anything on a wrong footing you can never get it right, there are people that wrote the position paper of CRFFN, there are people who pursued it in the National Assembly, go back to those people and we will get it right, this has been the problem, you stay somewhere and people will be articulating ideas, spending money and fighting for it, enacted it, immediately it was passed into law it became a money affair, your money can never buy you wisdom and knowledge if you don’t have it, you can have money from here to Jerusalem and you might be hallow upstairs. Moneybags used their money to take over the reins of power in CRFFN without knowing what it is all about, you cannot cure something you don’t know, it is the umbrella body of freight forwarders in Nigeria, but where people who don’t know it are piloting it, it will always be a baby.
Should CRFFN be allowed to collect the practicing fee?
I know the Council cannot operate without finance, no organization can succeed without finance, but there are ways and means to every problem, if you fight from now till 20 years, you will still end up on a dialogue table, if it were people who knows what CRFFN is, all these problems wouldn’t have risen, it would have been a smooth sailing organization that would be able to fund itself. The problem is that the first set and the second set of council members do not know what to do or how to move the council from the formative stage, by now the council ought to be in control. I think we have to go back to the basics and this is what will make CRFFN to work. The minister should get round pegs in round holes, there are people that worked for this idea, get these people and put them in the new caretaker committee so that they can conduct elections, if this is done it will go well, money is not the issue here, when the house is in order, then the money will come.
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