Since this newspaper made its debut on October 28, 2008, this is the third time that I will be interviewing Dr Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam. He is always a reporter’s delight; always very frank and down –to- heart. When he went public with his intention to relinquish his eminent position as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and also quit freight forwarding politics for the younger ones, not many believed him, but as months tickled down to weeks and weeks to days, it became obvious that he was damn serious about quitting the stage for the younger generation. So, I called him up for an insight into himself, the history and story of NAGAFF, his next move and other issues. As usual, the interview was conducted in his ever- crowded office and in between visits by different groups and persons. This is the first part of this very illuminating chat with Dr Aniebonam who will this week be making history in the Nigerian maritime industry.
Recently, NAGAFF gave awards to three individuals. Do you think the current Comptroller General of Customs deserve an award from NAGAFF?
Go and ask any Customs officer, no customs officer has had it so good, you were part of the CG meeting in Apapa recently and you saw him talking, he never mince words in the message he was trying to pass across. For instance, people kick against the relevance of the federal operations unit either as CGC task force or whatever the case maybe, again people speak from a disadvantaged position and this is why I talked about having knowledge. The powers of the customs to freely patrol within the Nigerian territorial waters are clearly stated in the Customs and Excise Management Act, so what we will be talking about now is bringing in some issues of morality; like the customs are found in the ports and why are they releasing goods and the goods are being held again, you should ask your self why do we talk about accomplices in law. Today in Nigeria, the biggest problem that we have is that of corruptions and the CG is a custodian of customs laws, so he can never mortgage customs revenue, and therefore it has become necessary that there should be checks and balance and that is the relevance of the federal operations unit to check their officers, importers and their freight forwarders. In other words, if you want to tackle the matter headlong and you want the federal operations unit to leave the road then every stakeholder, importer and their agents must make genuine declaration.
Is that not possible?
It is possible, but where is the will? And that is where corruption comes in and on the part of customs you will agree with me that for the past four months a lot of officers and men have been going to Abuja to write statements and some of them might even be dismissed from the service. So it takes somebody that has a great mind to take decisions like that, we need to get things right, we can not succeed with blackmail.
What informed NAGAFF change of position on the controversial Cargo Tracking Note?
NAGAFF never kicked against Cargo Tracking Note. When you go and ask for the opinion of somebody who says he is a member of NAGAFF and he tells you his feeling, that is not the policy of NAGAFF, if Aniebonam or Usman, the president says something, it is not NAGAFF as an individual, but when NAGAFF sits among themselves with the policy group and they come out with the position of NAGAFF because we are servants of NAGAFF. As far as issues of cargo tracking note is concerned, it has to do with safety of cargo and security of the Nigerian ports and of course the revenue generation for the government, anything that has to do with security, any responsible person will look at it twice and so we don’t need to mix issues, and that’s why I get worried sometimes; like the day we gave the peace awards, some people sat in the comfort of their homes and make proclamations, we cant move away from that because that is what makes us human beings. As for me, the issue of cargo tracking note with all this media propaganda particularly on the part of the formal sector group, I get worried over it because the former sector group have no reasons to talk about it because the cargo tracking note is in the interest of their cargo. But I think that what they are saying is the charges that are inherent in it, comparing it to neighbouring countries and other parts of the world, so if that is the case, then it is a matter of sitting down to do a systems study as to what is obtainable in Cameroun, America, Asia and other parts of Europe. If we get that, we do a comparative analysis and come out with something that is good for our own environment. In any case, the issue of charges have to do with sovereignty, you can still say that Cameroun is doing this or that, but that does not mean it is what Nigeria should do because we are not a banana republic, the government is there to take a decision that suits our economy and that is how I looked at it.
Looking back at the crisis within the Council of Managing Directors, some people still find it hard to believe that NAGAFF has no hand in it?
I still return back to what I told you earlier, NAGAFF as an organization must be separated from an individual. Let me give you a classical example: after the election into the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding, the industry people and even ANLCA members were saying that ANLCA has won all the seats, you can see myopic minds, the election was not conducted under the auspices of any association, any persons you find in the council today, contested under a corporate company which they represent and not ANLCA, so what has brought ANLCA into the instances of the council. This is why we are now saying that in that council there is an urgent need for us to go by way of institutional arrangement whereby NAGAFF will be made a permanent representative in the council, ANLCA permanent representative in the council, National council, IFFN and any other one.
Under this proposal, if another association springs up tomorrow, how do you accommodate them?
That is again where the body of the council sits down and look at the genuine associations, even as I am telling you this, the two prominent associations in Nigeria today are : NAGAFF and the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, you have to look at their spread cutting across the entire federation where customs entry points are viable. If you go and run an association like Lucky Amiwero with somebody; I don’t know whether it is the wife or the sister or whatever it is, that is a portfolio association and that is not the kind of association we are talking about. Don’t forget again that before this time, associations like ASOF and the rest of them have been in existence, but where are they today? They have all fizzled out, they fizzled out because of healthy competition and healthy competition brings out the best either as an association or as an individual. So you could see that NAGAFF came out and gave ANLCA a very strong and healthy competition and that is why you can see that the association to beat is the freight forwarding association and the license customs agents association. So you may wish to say clearly that healthy competition will make the smaller group associations to fizzle out and some other ones will be absorbed into these bigger umbrellas. So if the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding are people who are clearly- minded, they should just go straight and register the licensed custom agent association and the freight forwarding association; which is a very simple thing to do. Then of course, in terms of capacity building and training, you now bring in IFFN and of course maybe Freight Forwarders Academy of Nigeria, of course any other association is still at liberty, if you meet the criteria for membership you will be accepted. Let me take political parties for instance: in law all these political parties are equal because the conditions is quiet clear that you must have a spread throughout the six geopolitical zone of the country, so the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding can also make a regulation that for you to become an association to be recognized by the Council you must have widespread recognition cutting across the entire federation of the country. For now, it is only two associations that have that spread and that is, NAGAFF and ANLCA.
Why did you get involved in ANLCA politics, especially, the on-going campaign for the presidency?
I have never attended any occasion without an invitation, that is number one, number two is that, I am still a member of ANLCA, but the only difference is that I am not paying any dues so you can put one and two together because if you are a member of an association you must be up to date. In the spirit, I am a member of ANLCA because nobody has written me a letter that I have not paid my dues.
Which chapter do you belong to?
I belong to Apapa chapter; that is on a lighter note. The truth of the matter is that ANLCA and NAGAFF are two big sister organizations and that is what you must know. The truth of the matter is that a lot of people see NAGAFF as a hitch to their nefarious activities; they believe that NAGAFF is opening up the ways where they make illegal money and of cause when you see such cartels they are bound to fight back but fighting NAGAFF does not solve the problem, because we have all it takes to resist any missiles coming from anybody.
As you are set to leave NAGAFF, what will you like to be remembered for?
Friendship and that has occurred. This will take me into your last question; my presence in ANLCA function is quiet obvious. You can see that the relationship between NAGAFF and ANLCA is almost 100 percent now and that is what every reasonable person will look at because we have one mission and one goal but those who think (out of greed) that we are stopping them from what they want to do wont like it. But the younger freight forwarders are beginning to realize that if not for anything, NAGAFF is the only association that is highly mobile in terms of looking at their welfare and their existence as far as port industry activities are concerned.
Your pull-out date of 31st of March is close by, what other ambitions do you have?
I think it is good to make use of this opportunity to make some clarifications, many of the Nigerian people and Africa as a whole like to remain static as far as power and authority is concerned, at my age I think I should be able to give leadership, because at least I have a graduate in my house so I am not getting younger, I need to create opportunities and also lead by showing example, I have to go to give room for new ideas. For the past 10 years, I have been doing one thing and to me I feel I have exhausted all the ideas that I have and that is the truth, secondly I have to go when the ovation is very high. I am still in the industry, but the only difference now is that you can no longer see me like before. For instance, when the Comptroller General of Customs went to Ijora recently, I went there to see him, because he is my personal friend and that is because it’s still not yet 31st of March 2010, if it is after 31st of march, I will not even go to Ijora at all; if I want to see the CG, I know where to see him and go away. I feel like one has to give a chance to enable other people to do something. A lot of people like to call my name because I am the founder of NAGAFF and the number one servant of NAGAFF and so I have that responsibility that I have to carry out, but its like I am misunderstood a lot, but one good thing is that I have placed NAGAFF on a footing that they can defend themselves and so I have to give way and again like I have said, the achievements are enormous in terms of good relationship with the sister associations like ANLCA, sometimes I even say if Dr. Aniebonam is the problem I think maybe I have to give way for peace to reign, sometimes you must see life as a medium of sacrifice.
How likely is the survival of NAGAFF after your exit?
NAGAFF is well established, there is no threat to NAGAFF because NAGAFF has groomed more viable people than even myself. Don’t forget that we have the NAGAFF academy where we have trained so many people, people like Eugene Nweke who is coming in as the president of NAGAFF is a product of NAGAFF academy, a lot of them have been trained, groomed and given direction so there is no threat except you are telling me that we are in a banana republic. But I do know that we have a government of the country, the Nigerian constitution is quite clear on the freedom of association so there are no threats, but if you talk in terms of logistics as the case may be, that is not a problem because the election we are doing now I am told that the membership has gone up to about 6,700 people so if you multiply that by N5,000 that is, more than N3million and that is for only registration, so including membership and all that, I am sure that by the time they finish the election, they cannot be short of N15million. So I don’t think the issue of logistics has anything to do with the sustenance of NAGAFF. What I would rather say is that what industry watchers will be saying now is that I should not be very far because the young freight forwarders are more daring than myself, so that is what we should be talking about, just like Aare Sani Shittu the vice chairman of ANLCA board of trustee and people like Taiye Oyeniyi are saying that they will have preferred that Aniebonam should remain so that they will be seeing his face because people like Eugene Nweke who is coming in some people call him Osama Bin Laden !. So there are more daring people than myself who are taking over and I don’t think there is any threat, what we are saying is that there is need now for everybody to respect the rule of law, people should learn to follow government’s regulation because there is nothing at stake other than doing things that are within the law and along the line, find something to eat and feed our families.
Some people see you as a very proud person
Yes, if you are not proud you can not do what I am doing. But I see myself as a someone who is a bundle of humility, but people see me in a different way, my weakness in life is kindness but I think that is what God decided to use to cover me, except you come closer to me and see how sincere and jovial I could be, when you come to NAGAFF village you see us eating in one plate, so it is quite good and I think it’s God will and making that maybe he covered me with a mask for people not to know how kind I am and that has saved me a lot because, I am naturally a very kind person but what I hate is intimidation and I can go to any length if you try to impose your self on me I will resist that; no matter who you are. That is one thing you must know about me and that is why I say you should trace me back to my secondary school, if you trace me back, you will know more about me; I was a great footballer to start with and you know footballers are very proud people so that you can go and find out, the records are there. Even in the customs; ask my mates they will tell you, but what I hate is intimidation and if you wish to know, I did not leave customs because I wanted to leave customs, I left because there were instances of injustices there and I couldn’t take that rubbish from anybody. I remember someone like the then- deputy comptroller Ogungbade; the man like power and authority, he did something around me in the federal operations and I never took that lightly, because he is neither my God nor my life. But one good thing is that Ogungbade apologized to me and that was the day I delivered a lecture at Airport hotel during the tenure of Aliyu Mustapha as the CG of Customs. I delivered a lecture on destination inspection, after that lecture, I sat down and the man behind me was Ogungbade and he never knew me, he touched me on the shoulder, I looked back and it was him. He told me ‘my son you are a great man’ after the lecture, he never knew me, tears went down my eyes and that was the day I forgave him. There was no reason for what he did to a very young promising customs officer. But, I am also happy because he has brought me out for me to show what I am and the journey is just starting, don’t forget that I am heading a political party: the New Nigeria Peoples Party and so people like me will forever be grateful to the Customs for the knowledge they impacted in me; that training was great and its going to lead me into so many other things that I want to do in the service of our great country.
(To be continued)
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