• Hakeem: No governing council member can go against CRFFN’s decision
There are strong indications that the once-cordial relationship between the ebullient national president of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu and highly-respected chairman of the governing council, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Alhaji Hakeem Olanrewaju have gone awry.
The ANLCA national president is also a member of the governing council of CRFFN.
The bone of contention is the new direction which the CRFFN is towing and which ANLCA reportedly finds dangerous and ‘threatening’.
The duo who were once very inseparable are gradually building a wall around themselves; a development that is already common knowledge among their aides and followers.
Shipping Position Daily further confirmed the frosty relationship between the two at the recently-held one-day seminar on removal of fuel subsidy when they hardly spoke a word to each other.
Our correspondent who sat close to them at the restaurant after the event that was put together by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) was concluded, but he observed that they hardly exchanged a word, even though another member of the governing council; Alhaji Moshood Tijani and the secretary general of a faction of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents; Mr Ben Ndee.
But, the ANLCA president frowned at the insinuation that there is a face-off between himself and the CRFFN chairman. According to him, the point of seeming disagreement between him and Alhaji Olanrewaju is based on principle.
“Without ANLCA, there can’t be CRFFN; we are at liberty to carry out our programmes in the best interests of our members, he stated, even as he hinted that he saw an external hand in the latest disposition of CRFFN towards ANLCA.
“I have nothing personal against anyone; I have a responsibility towards my members, if there is anything serious Hakeem (CRFFN Chairman) should ask me”, Shittu disclosed even as he vowed that there was nothing personal to the face-off.
On his part, the CRFFN chair insisted that the role of the agency is very explicit vis-a -vis its relationship with the associations.
According to him, the CRFFN is a creation of an Act. “We are to regulate all associations, including ANLCA and as a leader of freight forwarders, I must clarify this; there is a difference between ANLCA and CRFFN”, he pointed.
On certain positions that were taken recently by the ANLCA president, the CRFFN chairman said that as a member of the governing council, Prince Shittu can not dissociate himself from decisions taken collectively by the governing council of CRFFN.
“All our efforts are geared towards professionalizing freight forwarding in Nigeria, and we are committed to this, the argument over who a freight forwarder is unnecessary, because the Act is very clear, you are either a freight forwarder or you are not”, he insisted and urged everyone to follow the template being adopted by the Council.
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