…Reiterates call for deregistration of ANLCA
Less than 24 hours to the meeting scheduled to hold between the Minister of Transport and the freight forwarding associations in Abuja to resolve the crisis generated by the proposed collection of the Practitioners’ Operating Fees (POF) from the freight forwarders by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), leaders of the four out of the five registered associations have made their reservations to the Minister as regards the scheduled meeting.
While acknowledging the receipt of the invitation to the meeting in a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport and signed by the National Presidents of the associations that made up the Concerned Accredited Freight Forwarding Associations (CAFFA) namely; the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), the associations however confirmed that they would be at the meeting as scheduled.
In the letter which was copied to the Inspector-General of Police and four others, CAFFA believed that for arbitration and reconciliation to take place, the cause of the dispute must be put in proper perspective and appropriate sanctions meted out to the party that had wronged the other who was a victim.
CAFFA pointed out that some elements in the freight forwarding profession had taken it upon themselves to act with impunity as to try to destabilize the peace and tranquility that the freight forwarders had enjoyed in the industry which it said had given room for an enabling environment for smooth and seamless port operations in the country.
It however disclosed that the action of those elements in most case had led to the truncating of government drive for revenue generation in the port.
According to CAFFA, ”The latest of these acts of brigandage and impunity was what was exhibited at Seme Border recently that led to the wanton destruction of government property i.e. the CRFFN Coaster bus with which the officials of CRFFN who as government officials travelled to Seme border to carry out an official assignment. The officers were assaulted and some freight forwarders were also beaten up and seriously wounded”.
The cause of our reservation about this meeting stems from this incident. It is unfortunate that two weeks after this incident, no concrete action has been taken at least to show that the supervising Ministry and CRFFN management are proactive to protecting members of the freight forwarding family from vandals. It does not give us the confidence to say that our interest will be protected and that those who have been acting with this brazen impunity will not get away with their malfeasance. We would have expected that the Ministry by now would have at least shown some seriousness in this matter. These elements threatened the Registrar of CRFFN in his office and actually carried out their threat as exhibited at Seme Border. To us this was a pre-meditated act that needed an immediate response but to our utter disappointment this did not happen”.
It continued,” We are just by this our letter giving you snippets of our grievances. We hope that we shall be given the opportunity to ventilate fully at the proposed meeting so that any arbitration/reconciliation can be meaningful”
“May we therefore state clearly that our silence and obedience to the law should not be construed to mean an act of cowardice. Let it be on record that nobody has monopoly of violence and it is our view that Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) be called to order or be deregistered by the Council to serve as a deterrent to others who may wish to employ violence in settling scores and to encourage peace in our profession. It is no longer news that ANLCA from inception has been working against the progress of CRFFN and it has been in the public domain”.
