Even as the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) prepares to hold its governing council elections in Abuja on 29th of June, the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) has raised an alarm, saying that it is not safe to conduct the election in Abuja
In a press statement issued at the weekend and signed by one Dr. John Emeagi, Acting President and Festus Ukwu, Acting General Secretary, the association cautioned that, considering the state of insecurity in the country, it is not safe to gather 10,000 freight forwarders in a single location for the elections.
The association appealed to the Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe and suggested that the election be done on a pro rata basses, whereby associations would be allocated slots based on their individual strength.
According to her, filling the slots would then be internal affairs of each association, in a process, if possible to be supervised by CRFFN to make it democratic.
Apart from the security concerns, the group urged CRFFN to key into this sentiment and remove unnecessary expenses that could stand in the way of total participation of every eligible member of the CRFFN in the forthcoming elections.
"We make this request with the best of intention and as patriotic citizen of this great country, by so doing, the CRFFN would have been saved the headache of crowd control and providing logistics for over 10,000 members of the CRFFN who will converge in one place in Abuja for the elections"
"And again in view of the security situation in the country, it would be a serious risk having such a large assemblage of people in one place at the same time. Above all, we believe it poses a higher risk to move a large number of CRFFN members to Abuja. This is a most undesirable exercise"
"We quite agree that election is capital intensive, but we believe with new agitations to reduce the cost of electioneering in Nigeria, it would not be out of place if we in the CRFFN key into this sentiment and remove unnecessary expenses that could stand in the way of total participation of every eligible member of the CRFFN in the forthcoming elections. It is only by so doing that we would have justified the struggles that went into the birth of the regulatory body for operators in the industry", the association said.
The NCMDLCA also urged the management of the CRFFN to jettison the current guidelines for the forthcoming elections, saying that if this is used, its members would be disenfranchised from voting, thereby defeating the aims,purpose and objectives of the founding fathers of CRFFN if there is no representation from all the CRFFN-accredited associations.
"For the records, our association is limited in terms of number, because it is only open to Chief Executives of Licensed Customs Companies. It cannot compete favourably with other associations which are for both Chief Executives and their employees"
"If our association goes into elections with any of the other associations in terms of numerical strength, it would be greatly unfair and inequitable. All over the world, election is a game of number. It means the process was designed to make some CRFFN-accredited associations not to be represented in the board, thereby denying their members a say in the activities of the body. We are convinced, that was never (and will never) be the intentions of those who designed the guidelines. After all, to err is human", the association pleaded.
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