Emmanuel Onyeme (PRO, ANLCA Tin Can)
My advice for this new council is that I really appreciate God that the people who made up this present Council are people who have experience in this industry, people who have spent so much of their time in doing this job, and this job is part of them, the advise I would give to them is for them to see how they can bring both the customs brokers and the freight forwarders together as a team, because presently we see different associations and nobody want to be united as one, but I know that with this Council coming onboard, we are going to work as one family, I encourage them to bring everybody together and with them.
Barr Michael Imonitie Ovien (Maritime Lawyer)
Like we all know that the CRFFN is a body regulating all freight forwarding associations, and now that a new Chairman has been sworn in which is Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni and his Vice Chairman, Chief Henry Njokwu, I would advise them to look into more positive ways of regulating the sector, because since the CRFFN is under the Ministry of Transportation, they should be able to tackle anything thing that has to do with transport and forget about anything that has to do with the Ministry of Finance which is the Nigeria Customs Service. I welcome the Chairman and the Vice to office and I want them to use their expertise to tackle the challenges in the ports today. One of the challenges we have now is that after giving your Terminal Delivery Order (TDO) to the transport department, for you to take your container out of the port has become a nightmare.
Obinna Okafor (NAGAFF Chairman, Ikorodu)
Thank God that the Council has been inaugurated, when you are fighting a course for almost ten years and you are almost getting it right, there are some things that are not important, the advise I have for them is for the new Chairman to work with other council members, the Comptroller General of Customs was appointed into office and today he is doing a good job. It is not that I am in support of the process by which the Chairman emerged, but whatever I say now cannot make any changes, rather let’s work with the new man, if there is any information we want to give to him to succeed, let us work with him and we hope he has a listening ears. Whatever my superiors are saying, they have the best knowledge of it because normally or ethically it is not proper, but we cannot say without moving, if you cannot move you craw, I don’t believe in stagnancy.
Eugene Nweke (Former NAGAFF President)
I want to Formally Congratulate Col. Abubakar Tsanni and Chief Henry Njoku as the third Governing Council Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN)
My Congregation also goes to all Governing Council members (appointed and elected) for smooth electioneering processes leading to a successful inauguration by the Honorable Minister of Transportation. My Congregation equally goes to the Honorable Minister of Transport, for his swift leadership consideration in the long run. My advice to them all is that the time to breach the widening professional gap is now. As a Freight Forwarding nation, six years down the line, we are daily losing out in the comity of global freight forwarding practices/ expertise. I wish You all a successful & professional activities packed tenure.
Emmanuel Nwagbara (Maritime Lawyer)
It is very heartwarming to note that the CRFFN governing board has finally been inaugurated. Freight Forwarding is a very important aspect of maritime business and therefore practitioners are expected to be very knowledgeable in the business of trade facilitation. They are also expected to be capable, that is to say that they should have capacity to discharge their expectations in the maritime value chain. Therefore the task before the new CRFFN governing board should have as its priority; the training and retraining of freight forwarders. They should also focus in equipping the freight forwarders with knowledge of the development at the international frontier in the maritime trade facilitation. We expect that not long after the new convention on combine transport will come into effect and it will require that only freight forwarders who are capable, knowledgeable and ready to play in the movement of cargo within and across frontiers are allowed to practice. They should also focus on building capacity for freight forwarders to be able to play their role in the upcoming dispensation. They should focus on possibility of mergers and acquisitions that is they should have a program that would encourage freight forwarders to come together to develop capacity to transport cargoes so that when the new dispensation come into play the Nigerian freight forwarder will not be pushed out of business.
Frank Obiejesi (ANLCA Member, Apapa)
What I will advice them is that God has trusted in them to work and organize the associations in collaboration with the federal government. They have been recognized and appreciated by the federal government, so in return, the federal government will give them what is due to them. So members of the board should bear in mind that they are men of integrity so we are beckoning on them to display that there.
Mr. Stanley Ezenga (NAGAFF, PRO)
There is purpose for setting up this CRFFN in the first place, let them go there; let them uphold the tenets that gave rise to the formation of that CRFFN Act. We need professionalism in the industry so that it will not be an all-comers affair, which is the main reason for the creation of the CRFFN. Let there be minimum standard that one can possess before he or she can be a freight forwarder. So when the council begins to work properly, they should ensure that those things that led to the establishment of the act is made to work, that is my major advice to them.
Rev Nicodemus Odolo (Trustee, Shippers Association Lagos State)
My advice is to first settle down, check the act establishing CRFFN and study properly and digest so that they will know the direction to follow to avoid doing anything that is against the Act establishing CRFFN. That is my candid advice for them.
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