Dr. Boniface Aniebonam is the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF). Recently, he spoke with Shipping Position Daily's Dapo Olawuni on the controversies surrounding the collection of practitioners fees by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). He also seized the opportunity of the interview to condemn alleged attempts by ANLCA to scuttle the collection of the practitioners operations fee.
Dr. Boniface Aniebonam is the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF). Recently, he spoke with Shipping Position Daily's Dapo Olawuni on the controversies surrounding the collection of practitioners fees by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). He also seized the opportunity of the interview to condemn alleged attempts by ANLCA to scuttle the collection of the practitioners operations fee.
What is your take on the decision by ANLCA not to pay the practitioners’ fee?
ANLCA is an organization and they are at liberty to state their position, where their liberty stops is where other people's starts, they need to discuss issues as it affect them, the only unfortunate thing is that the President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu was part of the whole process up to the approval time, so if there is any internal wrangling among them, that is their own problem. For me, the CRFFN is an arm of the government under transport ministry and the government has spoken, we want to believe that anything to the contrary, they have the capacity let them go to court, all this issue they are dragging, they don't have locus, the alternative is to go to court.
Will CRFFN go on with the collection?
I have told you that this is a directive of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and if there is anything to the contrary let them go to court, they have the right to do so, but as for collection of the practicing fee, it is a foregone conclusion.
Have they started collection of the money?
I wouldn't know, but the little I know is that they have given notice of collection.
What do you think CRFFN should do about this issue?
The Council does not need to talk to everybody, the Council is an arm of the government, and Mike Jukwe is there representing the directive of the government as it were, the very solution is for those who are aggrieved to go to court, the council cannot continue talking when issues are baseless, it does not make sense.
But of course you agree that ANLCA is the biggest association for now?
ANLCA is one of the smallest groups, NAGAFF is bigger than ANLCA by all standard, some of you do not really understand this, what is the number of the operating license of the customs, for instance? Customs license agents are sub-elements in the transportation chain, when you talk about total logistics in cargo management it is just one arm, so how many license did customs register? Look at the number of people in NAGAFF that have licenses, then check National Council, AREFFN and NAFAC, so how many licenses does ANLCA have? Sometimes people just want to be arrogant, ANLCA is a smaller entity to NAGAFF because if you look at the number of NAGAFF members you will be looking at individual freight forwarders which has to do with the status and heading of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria which seeks to regulate freight forwarding practitioners, so if we have about 10,000 practitioners and freight forwarders in Nigeria, and customs license is just 1,000, you can see the number. The membership of ANLCA is based on licenses issued by customs, whereas in NAGAFF it is all inclusive either as a licensed customs agent or an individual freight forwarder. So ANLCA is a smaller quantity, if you want to begin to rank the status of freight forwarding associations, NAGAFF is number one, followed by ANLCA and then maybe the National Council of Managing Directors. e have our members in Jibia Border, in Kano, Abuja and all over, and we are now entering more of the Northern States of the country, we are in Kwara State, anybody can come with all these undue propaganda, but it doesn't make sense.
So you think they have been deceiving the public by claiming to be the biggest?
You are a reporter and you know it, again, those who even have the licenses issued by customs do not have jobs to do, it is the single freight forwarders, this is what I have been trying to address to the customs, if they want to address professionalism in the practice, they need to look at the individuals, one of the major sources of corruption in the port is umbrella through which people hide under licenses issued by the customs, and you know it is only a court that can unveil a corporate body to know who is behind it. So a lot of people hide under the corporate body to commit crime and that is why a lot of foreigners are in Nigeria doing business, customs needs to do something differently at this time and I have kept talking to them quietly, if you look at the authorisation of customs licensing regulation you would be looking at firm, individual and corporate body, but you can see that the customs seems to have taken advantage of corporate bodies, they forgot the individual aspect of it and the firm. But I think that if the management of customs would be part of this change as it were, they will begin to look at individuals, so that if I as Dr. Aniebonam endorses an entry I will be held responsible, this will end all these fraudulent way of evading customs procedures; the earlier they understand this, better for them. A lot of people who are criminally-minded in the port are taking advantage of the operating license of the customs, especially the Form C30, they will just pick some people that do not have anything to offer in the port and allow them to be signing entry, so in other to go forward, customs needs to start identifying individuals and that is what the freight forwarders are looking at.
Do you support the categorization of freight forwarders by the CRFFN?
That is why I said that ANLCA is a sub-element in the categorization chain, we have the banks as associate members, insurance companies as associate members and so on, the categorization is there, these are actions that must be taken before goods are moved across international frontiers to the final destination. The ports under section 12 of the customs law is a customs port and this is strategic, this is why customs apart from being a paramilitary body is commercialized because they are dealing with commercial entities, that is why the port; being a strategic area is also a commercial area.
So categorization by CRFFN is a welcome idea?
It is part of the whole gamut of freight business, a freight forwarder is an advanced person in the entire system, he is somebody who has the total knowledge of customs formalities, agencies of the government, and now the freight forwarders have even become vessel owners, Nigeria is trying to move into a change, we are looking up into the 29th of May when things will start to fall in place.
What are your expectations from the new government, especially as regards maritime?
The expectation is that when we stay away from things that are inimical to the revenue generation of the customs or any other legislative instrument, then people will be compliant to regulations, we must carry out genuine declarations for customs purpose, if customs get annoyed and invoke the laws inherent in their operations, all of us will be in jail, there are sections of the law which says that one or two persons gathering together to talk of how to evade customs duties is one year imprisonment without option of fine.
The new president-elect have told us his mission statement; security, corruption, and oil and gas, at the gateway of the economy which is the port. Corruption must be handled, a lot of things is going on there, it is not about Buhari, it is about Nigerians who sought for change and the change must be given voluntarily, on the part of Buhari, he will set the agenda but somebody has to implement it, when Buhari was former Head of State and he did all he did in terms of War Against Indiscipline, it was all dictatorial, now we are in democracy and issues must go through the National Assembly for deliberation, and of course he will need to exercise some level of caution because if he does not, some of the politicians pay a lot of money to get there and if they are unduly blocked, they can start gathering signatures.
By and large, all of us have to be part of the change, even on the part of the customs; I can see some kick-starting in the port, in terms of the fight against smuggling and corruption. I am aware that over 29 illegal warehouses have been sealed in Kano, Lagos and Idiroko, so the change has begun, maybe before the 29th of May we might see more pronounced actions to let people know that it is no longer going to be business as usual.
What is your take on the new Customs Comptroller General Task force?
The task force headed by Hassan Shalangwa is an intervention force, while the FOU is a regular force, you may wish to know that by the power of the Comptroller General of Customs, he knows what to do to strike any particular place if they are contravening the laws, you have seen the results of the task force, and that is why I tell you that customs is ahead of the anti-corruption crusade, and there are chances that they will step it up. I can also report to you that I am aware that Jibia Border would soon be opened up for people to do their business.
When should we expect the Presidential election in NAGAFF?
We are not doing election in NAGAFF NECOM office for now, it is our agreement and we have decided on that, when you are surrounded by enemies you must guide yourself, if you go to NACCIMA there is nothing like election there, we go by succession at the moment and it is strategic. After me it was Usman and after Usman it is Eugene, after Eugene somebody else is being groomed, we don't want to start fighting ourselves or destroying ourselves like what you see in our sister associations, NAGAFF is one big happy family, even in the PDP you recall when the tenure of Obasanjo ended, there was no election, election is a consensus addendum, when the people concerned have agreed.
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