By Yousouph Joshua
The founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has expressed his displeasure over the recent elections into the Governing Council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). This is even as he noted that there were no published election guidelines or a register for accredited voters for the elections.
He equally lampooned organizers of the elections saying that, rather than unite freight forwarders, the elections further divided them.
In an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily, Aniebonam also alleged that, for the first time, elections into the CRFFN governing council were conducted without any authentic register of eligible voters, who are supposed to be registered members of the CRFFN.
Dr Aniebonam told our correspondent that freight forwarders were not able to do their verification as the election venues were taken over by strange faces suspected to be miscreants and not freight forwarders.
Recall that 15 registered freight forwarders emerged as winners in the elections. The breakdown of the results of the elections which took place simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt rrevealed that NAGAFF has eight elected members, the Association of National Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has five elected members, the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) and just one, while Dr. Increase Uche emerged as the only elected independent candidate.
Confirming earlier allegations of large-scale irregularities in the elections, Dr Aniebonam said: “How dare you that you are conducting an election and there are no guidelines or register of voters. People were not able to verify and we saw different kinds of people, whether they are freight forwarders or not, we don’t know; and whether they are just interested in the money they will get. But I don’t think the issue is money”.
Dr Aniebonam told Shipping Position Daily that the first objective of CRFFN is to regulate, control, and bring all the contending voices from various associations together under one umbrella. But according to him, the procedures and outcome of the last elections have created more rivalry among freight forwarders, owing to the fact that not all the five accredited associations under CRFFN are represented on the Council’s Governing Board.
Aniebonam lamented that inasmuch as the National Council of Managing Directors and Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) are duly accredited by the CRFFN, they did not get any elective positions.
He decried the irregularities in the procedures of the elections, stating that the Council refused to publish the register of voters and provide the election guidelines. This, according to him, is against the tenets of the CRFFN Act and objectives.
The NAGAFF Boss also noted that the emphasis and attraction of the freight forwarders going into the Governing council seem to be the collection of the Practitioners Operating Fees (POF) without considering the interest and welfare of the entire body of freight forwarders.
While calling for the movement of the CRFFN to be under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Aniebonam stated that as long as the Council remains under the Transport Ministry, CRFFN may not likely achieve its objectives.
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In his words: “The truth is that CRFFN is not moving forward. It is not adding any value. It seems the administrators don’t seem to understand the concepts and reasons for establishing CRFFN as a regulatory agency as far as the port is concerned. CRFFN Started to fail from day one and it is not news. Unfortunately, up till now, nothing has happened.
“The first objective of CRFFN is to bring all the contending voices together from various associations and operators under one umbrella, regulate and control them, and set standards for all procedures. This last election has divided us more. This is because the National Council of Managing Directors and Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and NAFFAC did not get any elective positions and they are duly accredited associations. Ordinarily, if we follow the standard of INEC, if you do not win the election they will be deleted. That is not the tenets of the Act, if you do not see anything that is wrong with that, the CRFFN has divided us more, rather than bring us together.
“As long as we remain in the Transport ministry, CRFFN may not likely achieve its objectives because the emphasis seems to be on money now. Everyone is looking forward to the collection of POF and that is what the struggle is all about. Those who went to the Council came back empty with nothing they could say they were able to achieve. When you talk to them, they start talking about regulations” he said.
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