Barely three months after he was sworn-in as the chairman at the Tin Can Island Chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Mr. Azubuike Ekweozor has threatened to tender his resignation letter due to alleged financial pressures being mounted on him by the headquarters of the association.
Ekweozor in a chat with news men in his office on Wednesday lamented that he is getting a lot of financial demands from the Board of Trustees of the association and that he is no longer comfortable with the situation.
Barely three months after he was sworn-in as the chairman at the Tin Can Island Chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Mr. Azubuike Ekweozor has threatened to tender his resignation letter due to alleged financial pressures being mounted on him by the headquarters of the association.
Ekweozor in a chat with news men in his office on Wednesday lamented that he is getting a lot of financial demands from the Board of Trustees of the association and that he is no longer comfortable with the situation.
He however stressed that even though he is resigning as chairman of Tin Can port chapter of NAGAFF, he is still very much a NAGAFF member.
"I know I am trying my best, but in terms of finance, the pressure I am getting from the Board of Trustees at the headquarters is becoming worrisome, everything is not all about money or returns, everything is all about how you sanitize, what do you do to move the people you are heading forward and to move the association forward"
"My main priority of being there is not all about money, it is to make sure that I move NAGAFF at Tin Can Island Port to the next level" he corrected
In terms of remitting dues to the headquarters, Ekweozor said that Tin Can Island Port chapter is up to date in its responsibilities to the headquarters, even though he noted that collecting practicing fees from agents in the port is a very difficult task. He however added that the chapter has been using its initiative to ensure that it does not lag behind
Ekweozor also recounted his contributions to the Tin Can chapter of NAGAFF within the short period that he was elected to pilot its affairs.
He said that his executives have succeeded in creating a cordial relationship between NAGAFF members and the Nigeria Customs Service.
"I made customs to begin to see NAGAFF as an institution that has come to stay, unlike before, when you mention NAGAFF to any officer, they will not be interested, due to the past approach of the former chairmen of the chapter, but now I have been able to achieve 80% of the cordial relationship with customs" he said.
The NAGAFF chieftain also said that the implication of his pulling out as chairman of the chapter is that everybody that has business to do with NAGAFF would now be careful because the little trust that has been injected in the chapter will be damaged.
"There is no how that people will know that the man they trusted is no longer there and they will still bring their business"
"When I was brought in as the interim committee chairman of the Tin Can Chapter, I found out that everything was astray, things were not the way they should be, but immediately I took over, I had to reform a lot of things to make NAGAFF have a face at the Tin Can Island Port"
"I don't think my leaving the association is the end of NAGAFF, I don't have such impression, my leaving does not mean have left NAGAFF, I am just trying to step aside"
"The founder is my mentor and I have a cordial relationship with him, I am not tendering my resignation because of him, he is not the association, he is just the founder of the association, he fought for it and it has come to stay" Ekweozor acknowledged.
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