The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) was founded around 1999, when the association started from the then two-room office of its founder; Dr Boniface Aniebonam within the premises of Apapa port.
Considering the circumstances and the story of its birth, the NAGAFF has indeed come a long way, and it has proven the agelong believe that, when there is will, there is always a way.
For lovers of history, Dr Aniebonam cannot but be synonymous with NAGAFF. History will forever remember him for fighting all odds (including frequent several detentions at Police stations and subsequent humiliation and harassment) to ensure that the NAGAFF dream did not die.
The story of NAGAFF cannot be separated from the sojourn of its founder in the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), where he served, first as Chairman of Customs Agents’ Relations Committee of the Apapa chapter of ANLCA, under the then- chairman; Mr Onyebuchi Katsina Uzor.
He was later to be elevated; albeit in the same position at the national level of ANLCA by the then- national president; Alhaji Sani Kamba.
It was from ANLCA that NAGAFF sprang out.
It can be argued that the birth of NAGAFF gave ‘its mother’; the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents enough reasons to buckle up. Were it not for NAGAFF and the bar it raised, ANLCA would probably have been a dead association by now.
Those early years, when NAGAFF, through the robust propaganda and public relations instrumentality of its founder, was enjoying soaring prominence, ANLCA was being erased from prominence. Expectedly therefore, when ANLCA regained its consciousness, it saw NAGAFF as a festering sore.
Without doubt, Dr Aniebonam is NAGAFF and vice versa. And this has reflected in the manner he influences the association. There is hardly any clear-cut distinction between his person, his business and that of NAGAFF.
As it was in the beginning, when he gave his all to birth the association, Dr Aniebonam has not relented even at 25 years.
However, it is this feeding bottle, nay father-son and perhaps master-servant relationship between the duo of Dr Aniebonam and NAGAFF that genuinely worries us and we think it should worry all lovers of NAGAFF.
We recall that on many occasions, Dr Aniebonam had openly announced his withdrawal from the day-to-day running of the association. This promised has never been kept!
We also will not blame him for keeping his eyes on the association. It probably shows him owing NAGAFF. Yes, he owns the association. Where your treasure is, is where your heart will be.
Perhaps, if he had left it and walked away after he handed over to late Mr Usman Sanusi, NAGAFF would not be alive to celebrate 25 years of sustained relevance and success. After late Usman, NAGAFF has had four more Presidents.
In these years, the association has become a household name, not only in freight forwarding. But also, in politics and governance.
Its contribution to advocacy is incomparable, its grooming of young practitioners is a good example in youth empowerment and poverty alleviation.
The decision to watch-over and continually tie NAGAFF to his apron string can not be blamed on Dr Aniebonam, who for many years now bears the justifiable title of ‘Founder’ of the association.
Obviously for the foresight to have birthed NAGAFF and for supplying all its needs and also for his administrative prowess and his mastery of the game and politics of freight forwarding; and thereby turning the NAGAFF headquarters to a place of refuge for many, members deify Dr Aniebonam.
Without denying him of the justifiable honour of being deified, it’s our candid opinion that NAGAFF has matured enough to fend for itself. For how long will the association be spoon-fed by Dr Aniebonam? For how long will he think for NAGAFF and continually be its face?
If this has worked for as long as the association has existed, it won’t work for ever, because Dr Aniebonam won’t be there for ever!
To think that without his overbearing ‘love’, NAGAFF will die, is to live in absolute self-delusion. The only lasting legacy that the Founder of NAGAFF can give to the association he fought to birth, is to right these wrongs as soon as possible.
Its high time NAGAFF began to restructure its apparatuses, especially as it concerns the way its President emerges. The ‘Village Square’ method of appointing (or is it anointing) its President in a cult manner is unsustainable.
