Chief Increase Uche is a former Governing Council Member of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarder in Nigeria (CRFFN). He is also a former President of NAGAFF. In this interview with Joshua Yousouph, he dwells on issues pertaining to the Council. He says that those opposed to the new Registrar are doing so because he is a NAGAFF member.
Recently, the Federal Government reconstituted the boards of some maritime agencies. Being a former member, give us an update as regards the reconstitution of the CRFFN Council sir?
You have said it all now. I was a member, so what’s my authority? What do I need to say again? I am just a former member. I’m not a policymaker in government circles. It was just the report that we got and you knew what happened. It’s not that the CRFFN Governing Council is a political board. It is not. It’s a council; a professional council. There is no way the dissolution of the boards should have affected it in the real sense. Some of the members went to court, challenging the instruction directly from the President. So, we are still watching. Constituting the board of CRFFN will always be in line with the professional setup that created the CRFFN. So, these political boards that are being constituted is a different ball game. Right now, we can’t say that we are under an emergency situation in CRFFN anymore; since we have a sitting Registrar. The minister has tried to resolve our matter. So subsequently, all issues will fall in line. The governing council of CRFFN shouldn’t be compared to that of the board of other agencies.
Since CRFFN now has a substantive Registrar, are there still limitations in decision-making?
For now, in line with Section 5 of the CRFFN Act, the council can always resort to the minister for any assistance. Other technical matters concerning his office can always be resolved through consultation with the freight forwarders. So we are looking at that. There is no vacuum for now.
One of the major concerns has always been the classification of CRFFN; whether it is a government agency or a professional body. What is your take on this?
The court ruled some time ago (about three years ago) that it is a government agency at least for now although NAGAFF is still challenging the ruling. But in the natural sense, CRFFN should just be a quasi-government agency. It should not be a full-fledged government agency based on the practice establishing it. So, there is no controversy at all.
There is also another concern regarding CRFFN being under the Ministry of Transportation or the Marine and Blue Economy.
The freight forwarding profession, as we all know, is all-encompassing. It covers all transport modes—whether road, rail, or maritime. So talking about which Ministry it should belong to, whether transport or blue economy, in fact, the activities we carry out in the maritime sector is more than what actually takes place in the rail, road and air logistics sector. So by right, if the agency is domiciled in the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, there is nothing wrong. So whether the Ministry of Transportation or the Marine and Blue Economy supervises it, it doesn’t stop us from interfacing with other modes or ministries. Even the Ministries of Trade and Finance; we are linked to all those ministries based on the scope of our operations. So it doesn’t matter which ministry we are domiciled in. As long as we remain relevant and can meet up with the requirements of the industry as freight forwarders and our profession is falling in line and meeting up with the pace of development globally, there is no problem. It depends on the managers, we have professional managers that are in charge of the administration of CRFFN from the top interacting and linking with all other ministries, agencies, or whatever modes. It’s not a problem. But the business we do will always define that. That is why you see the composition of the governing council of CRFFN covers almost the entire sectors of the economy. The Nigerian Railway Corporation is there represented, we have NACCIMA there represented, we also have the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Nigerian Customs Service and all, that are all represented in our governing council.
Looking at the CRFFN Governing Council, some members were elected while others were appointed. How long is the tenure of elected members?
Whether elected or appointed, the tenure runs simultaneously and the duration is the same which is two years. But now, our tenure was disrupted. Within the two years, we couldn’t even do up to a year when the sledge hammer fell on the governing council. That needs to be reviewed. You see one thing about that dissolution by the Presidency, if that is allowed to be, it will be difficult, again, to get this very council together. This is because people spent money. We followed, laid down guidelines for the election. We paid money to contest that election and it is tenured. But at the end of the day, even as a professional council, that pronouncement came. It was a kind of disorganizing situation for the members of the council. We have political appointees which should be affected and not be elected professionals from the register of freight forwarders. Ordinarily, we shouldn’t have been affected. That was where that very directive did not go down well and it will continue to affect this very governing council, if it is not corrected. Having done all to be on the board and we are not allowed to serve our tenure, it will encourage some other people. Tomorrow, when you call for election and all that, some of us might not be interested anymore. If the freight forwards are not there and we have only government appointees on that board, it cannot function; they can’t. So, this needs to be resolved seriously. It is a dicey situation.
So, when is the tenure of the current board expected to end?
Normally, the tenure is supposed to end this year. But with everything that has happened, all things are not equal, the center cannot hold. Things have fallen apart. We need to come back to the drawing table to revisit the situation and to correct that misdirection. At the initial time when that pronouncement was made, if not for the kind of Permanent secretary that was in the Ministry of Transportation, we would have gone ahead with our council to complete our tenure. But because of some ulterior motives, we were included, even as a professional council.
Moving forward, what are your recommendations for CRFFN and the freight forwarding industry?
That will amount to setting an agenda for the new registrar. I know he is working on something. We should wait for him. Let me not put the cart before the horse. I believe he is working on something crucial that will impact the industry. As a new person, all those teething problems he met there need to be resolved and it is going to take some time. We are following up to ensure that it is implemented properly, but we will not over-labour him.
Some freight forwarding associations are yet to accept him as the new Registrar of CRFFN?
Some people went to court over his appointment. I think why they went to court was to seek for the interpretation of the Council Act. It is their right and you know the situation CRFFN has been in before now, that the Act did not contemplate the particular situation that we found ourselves in. At the very instance, the Minister had to take control and that was what he did. I have heard them arguing that the process of appointing him (new Registrar) was faulty somehow. But we found ourselves in a situation where we need to relax even the law. The agency needs to be reformed. Like the woman that was appointed as the most senior director to take over from the former registrar. In actual sense, she was not an acting registrar. That is not recognized. She was only asked to take over from Mr. Nwakohu. How she got that name, acting registrar, is surprising. So, the ministry in their wisdom discovered that there is a need to buoy the council, so that it won’t go down further. That was what gave rise to appointing Kingsley Igwe as a professional to be there for now to reform the place. I think he is working. He is doing a lot of work underground. As soon as he comes up with what we need to do, some of us will also give our support. There is no cause for alarm. The only thing playing out now is just that some of those who think that the man is from NAGAFF are the ones attacking because their own men were not selected. They all went for the selection process. The other association members attended the selection process. Luckily, this man emerged based on his performances during the test or whatever.
Some freight forwarders claimed that the selection interview for the registrar never held in Abuja. What do you say to that?
Who said so? The interview took place in the Ministry. I was not there, but I was told it took place in the ministry.
