“Relationship between the Customs and freight forwarders is like master-servant”
Mr Frank Obiekezie is the National Secretary of Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN). In this interview with the duo of Oluyinka Onigbinde and Joshua Yousouph, he opens up extensively about freight forwarding in Nigeria and matters related to it.
What is your appraisal of the new CRFFN Governing Council?
Well, we had the election into the new governing council on the 9th of March and between that time and now, this is October which is a span of not less than six months. Considering that the tenure of a Council is supposed to be two years, so if you remove six months from two years, what remains is a year and six months. That means that a quarter of their tenure has gone. By now, they should have been coming out with several initiatives, because the problems of the industry have been known. The beauty of it is that most of the people in the current council were in the previous council. So, this issue of foundational problems will not be there. They are supposed to hit the ground running immediately, but we have not seen much. My assessment is that they have not lived up to the expectations of the average freight forwarder in the industry. We have not had much from them; it is as simple as that. Probably they are being bound down by some internal wrangling. Otherwise, they should have been coming up with solutions to the known problems.
Do you think the crisis in ANLCA is affecting the Governing Council plans for the industry?
Well, I won’t subscribe to that. ANLCA is just one of the five accredited associations; although they are the oldest. Their crisis has been there for about four to five years. That means ANLCA crises have been there before the commencement of the present Governing Council. If ANLCA crisis could have been said to have impacted on the council, then it must have affected the previous Council. So I don’t think it is mainly ANLCA issue that is affecting the governing council. After all, the council is made up of both practicing freight forwarders and non-freight forwarders who are government appointees. Even if ANLCA doesn’t have crisis, ANLCA will only have some representation in the council and presently I know they have representation in the council. In fact, one of the ANLCA big wigs is the Vice Chairman of the council and the Chairman of the Freight Forwarders Consultative Forum. So I think ANLCA crises might be a little distraction, but I don’t think that is what is affecting CRFFN.
So, what do you think is affecting the CRFFN Governing Council?
From my own understanding, I think the issue of CRFFN started from the conception of the council. This is because originally, the Council was not meant to be a government agency. But somewhere along the line, something happened and the council came out more or less as a government agency. And being a government agency, the number of government appointees to the council are more than the number of freight forwarders who are supposed to be the owners of the Council for whom the Council is supposed to be working for. That is one aspect of it. The second aspect is that the last council was pulled down by the issue of tenure. By the time their tenure was supposed to have ended officially after two years, there was this confusion whether it should be three or four years. When there was that uncertainty, the council was bugged down for not doing much until eventually it was disbanded. It took a long time for the new council to be constituted and in that interim; the Registrar who is supposed to be an employee of the council became the Chief Executive Officer, doing the work of the management and the council itself. He did that for a long time. Now having seeing himself in that kind of position, before the council came onboard, there were insinuations that the management did not even want the council to come again. But the law says there must be a council and it is the council that was supposed to appoint the Registrar. When the council was eventually constituted, a kind of power tussle ensued on who will do this and that. I think that is the root of the problem.
There have been insinuations that the CRFFN headquarters will be moved to Abuja. What’s your take on this?
It is because of the way we do things in Nigeria. Freight forwarding as a body has to do with activities done mainly at the borders and when we talk about transportation across borders, it happens in the seaports. If not because of the way we waste resources, there’s no reason why any organization charged with supervising activities in the port should be relocated to Abuja. You can consider the logistics involved. I don’t know why somebody should consider taking CRFFN to Abuja. I think it is because most of these people want to be near to power. But that is because we have misplaced our priorities. If it is one government and the President is in Abuja, every organizational headquarters should be located where it is happening. It is just like some other local governments in some state where Chairmen don’t stay in their local government, but in their State capital and when you go there, you will see their weaknesses and find out that they are not performing. There is no reason why the Chief Executive of CRFFN or even Nigerian Ports Authority should stay more in Abuja than around the port. I don’t subscribe to the idea of taking the headquarters of CRFFN to Abuja.
Some of the governing council members have been pushing for freight forwarders representation in the Board of the Nigeria Customs Service. What do you make of this?
It will be an ideal situation. But the relationship between the Customs and freight forwarders over the years, have always tended towards master-servant relationship. The Customs licensed us and we have been kicking against it. Customs assume that position of superiority. They don’t see us as partners but ideally, we are supposed to be partners because without us they cannot be achieving what they are achieving. That is why some of us have always been agitating that part of the money we help them to generate should be given back to us for training and development, just as they give some money to NPA and other agencies; but that has not been achieved. That will be easier if we have some seasoned freight forwarders in that board. The truth is that some of the trained officers in the Customs who believe that knowledge does not reside in one person, when you encounter them; they will engage and interact with you. Some of the freight forwarders do know some of these laws better than the Customs officers. So it will be very good if they give two or three slots to freight forwarders in the Customs board. But there must be a process of selection. There must be some criteria to be met for you to be there. It will be a good thing.
Can you give an appraisal of the road construction between Mile 2 and Tin Can ports? Are satisfied with the level of work?
I don’t like talking about that road again. It has been overemphasized. It has been a topic for over 10 to 15 years. Many times we have been called for interactive sessions, and seminars by the Nigeria Shippers Council. Even the sections completed, you will see a private terminal using the road as a parking lot. So what are we talking? You would see trucks parked on some of the sections that can be considered passable. Some of them have broken down and you will see the Police personnel hanging around there. Some people will tell you that they have collected money from them. So why should a government road constitute parking lots to terminals and other truck drivers? When you go out, you would see tents and umbrellas here and there. The whole place looks like an eyesore with oil everywhere. I don’t like talking about this road, much has been said already. Do you know how many people have died or involved in the accidents on the road that leads to the two biggest ports in Nigeria (Apapa and Tin Can) which yields so much money to the Federal Government. This is where we have the bulk of all the importation are concentrated. Sometimes I consider some drivers as magicians looking at the way they maneuver on that road.
AREFFN seems to be less prominent among other accredited freight forwarding associations. Why is this so?
Well, that is your opinion and some people also share same opinion. I think the major issue here is that various associations have their strategies. We have just finished training session on Sunday at Redeemers University. We didn’t start or end it with funfair. Some other organizations would have hyped it in such a way that everybody in the industry will know about it. Before now, some people perceive freight forwarders as being workers in the motor park; where everything is settled with fisticuffs. This is the same thing happening in the association you mentioned before where they lock up their secretariat and hoodlums doing this and that. We don’t believe in that. We believe in doing what we’re supposed to do without asking for anybody’s praises, but I understand what you’re saying. The major thing I must tell you that the President of this association, Alhaji Bala Lawan Daura is a kind of person that believe that he doesn’t need to fight for anything in order to achieve it and that is the strategy we have been using. As a young association, we don’t also have the war chest, because these things you’re talking about goes with high financial implications. If there is anything we can achieve with little input and greater achievement, we will do it. We also ensure that our members work according to the rules. We don’t want them running foul because sometimes what happened in some of these other places, is that they directly or indirectly encourage some of these boys to go violent and when such things happen, there will be noise making and others. We know we are less prominent, but we have our own strategies and it has been working for us.
What advice would you give to the crisis going on in your sister association; ANLCA?
If they have their constitution and guiding rules and they abide by the provisions of these rules, these kinds of things will not be happening. Most of these kinds of things have come up when people want to change the standing rules when it is their turn and they don’t get the buy-in of all the stakeholders. These members or leaders must know that leadership is like a relay race. When you are done with yours, hand the baton to the other people coming behind. You cannot stay there forever. Not when the time comes to leave, you want to change the constitution. Before you know it, others will resent you. So, it is internal democracy. I have spoken to some of them individually and advised them to come together and have a round table. They are the people that will solve the problem because they are the people who know exactly what the issues are. No outsider will tell you they know what is happening. Most of the time, it is always about self-interest, but nobody will tell you that openly. They are the oldest and the crises are also impacting on the industry. There is no doubt about that. Most of the founders of other associations sprang up from ANLCA. And most of these founders will tell you the issues they couldn’t bear that led to them leaving. I advise them to put their house in order. Let’s all join our hands together and salvage the situation in the port. The freight forwarders are losing confidence in the associations, because they feel they are just left there to the mercy of not only Customs but also other agencies in the port. There is no way we can protect them if there is no unity. First of all, there should be internal unity in the association and then inter association unity extending to CRFFN who is supposed to be the umbrella. But unfortunately the house is divided.
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