Dr. Boniface Aniebonam is the founder, National bAssociation of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) as well as the National Chairman, New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).In this interview with our correspondent, he bares his mind on the ongoing Practitioners’ Operating Fees (POF), the problem of Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and many other salient issues bedeviling the Nigerian maritime industry. Excerpt;
The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANICA) before now did not tell us why it advised its members not to pay the Practitioners’ Operating Fees. Now that it has given the absence of a well constituted Governing Council for the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) as its reason for threading in that direction, do you see that reason as justifiable?
Well, I don’t think ANCLA is being honest with the whole issue. For me, from my strategic position, there is a kind of internal wrangling in ANLCA most especially; it has to do with the first Council members. You recall that the first Council members, if you look at them, seven were from ANLCA; one is from NAFFAC (National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators). For me, I look at it as business has gone bad and therefore, it is like to your tent oh Israel. People are trying to join issues.
The point is that the whole idea of this operational fee was duly packaged by the first Council and you recall that the first people were actually the people that recruited Jukwe (CRFFN Registrar). You also recall that the same first Council engaged the services of S.W Global as the concessionaire to pick up these money for the associations and you might be surprise to know that the accruing amount of money were discussed; 60% to CRFFN and 40% to S.W Global. So, something is amiss there, that 40%, something is wrong there.
It means that those who packaged 40% for S.W Global who are now out of the Council are not protected because the first Council has gone. That is the internal wrangling and as it is now, the President of ANLCA, Olayiwola Shittu who is a member of the first Council is still holding a very strategic position as the President of ANLCA and he is protected, the other members of the first Council are out of the Council. It is like they are feeling that they are not protected.
So, what you there now is technically, there is problem in ANLCA and the relevance or otherwise of the committee that they set up to negotiate with CRFFN as to what might get to ANLCA is basically, an issue of old scores, you know, the bad deal that went bad. They are flying the kite as far as am concerned, if you have left the Council, you have left the Council.
There is this argument coming from ANLCA that practising agents which happened to be Licensed Customs Agents were the only ones in position of making any payment in the ports and certainly not those who are approved freight forwarders only on the basis of associations they registered, what do you make of this?
ANLCA members are secondary freight forwarders; they are a sub-element in the chain. ANLCA is as far as am concerned by the virtue of licensing regulation of the customs from section153 up to 156 that empowered corporate bodies known in law and licensed by the customs and off course you know the membership of ANLCA is base on those licenses and so, if you look at the whole essence, how many licenses are issued by the customs that the other associations don’t have?
NAGAFF members throughout the federation have licenses, NAFFAC members have licenses, National Council members have licenses, AREFFN members have licenses. So, how many belongs to ANLCA? It doesn’t make sense. So, it is just like somebody raising dust when there is no need. I other words, what am trying to say is that it is all about propaganda, umbrella body of all the licensed agents, it is not in doubt, it just like saying NAGAFF is the umbrella body for all the freight forwarders in the country. That is alright, there is nothing wrong with that, anybody can claim anything but when we check the statistics, you will find out that ANLCA is in the minority.
The freight forwarding practitioners under CRFFN are greater in numbers because it is based on the individual practitioners because don’t forget that the essence of CRFFN is to package professionalism and it is only an individual can be a professional. So, if you look at ANLCA, ANLCA is small in terms of number. Let us take customs license to be say 1, 000, ANLCA will not have more than 35% it, the other 65% could be distributed from NAGAFF down the line. So, but you still give ANLCA that opportunity for having up to that percentage, let us assume, if you really go through statistics.
So, if they say they are the umbrella body of all the licensed agents, it is okay, I give to them and off course, the individual members of NAGAFF cannot be less than 3, 000 to 4, 000 as far as am concerned if you look at the registered freight forwarders. So, if you combine membership of NAGAFF with other sister associations in terms of individual and corporate membership, ANLCA is a sub element of the freight forwarding organizations as far as am concerned, they are small even when you compare them to NAGAFF in terms of size.
Now, looking at size, NAGAFF has moved up to Jibia, Kongolan border and they are all over. So, ANLCA cannot tell you now that they are in Katsina, are they in Kongolan border? Are they in Kwara State? We are there, tell me where they are that we are not there, tell me a place. So, we are ahead, but that is not the issue, we cannot continue with this propaganda, the important thing is that we should all come together discuss issues of common interest as far as am concerned and those who feel that their business has gone bad should accept it in good faith.
Even at that, majority of these people, let me use the word, that are fighting the President of ANLCA are members of the Board of ANLCA. So, whatever that is coming out from ANLCA, in any case, in associations, there is no money that anybody is sharing because it is a nongovernmental organization , nobody is paid, nobody is under any salary if you are working for NAGAFF or ANLCA or any other association. It is a kind of a charitable organization but associations can take responsibility if they send you on any message, they can pay your fees, your fuel and all that, that is all. But to receive salary is wrong except those who are really employees of the associations like the secretaries and system officers.
So, it not an issue and I want you to understand that there are other issues they raised, that the Board has not been properly constituted and that if that is the case, that the CRFFN cannot issue out a directive and then that will again show you the limited knowledge that they have. CRFFN by the virtue of court ruling now is an agency of the government and there is no vacuum in government and under Section 5 of the CRFFN Act, Powers of the Minister to give character and direction, the Minister can go ahead and take resolution.
What are those resolutions? The resolutions as may have been entered into by the critical stakeholders. Who are the critical stakeholders? NAGAFF, National Council, AREFFN and off course ANLCA and off course you should know that when you unveil these associations, it accommodates the entire gamut of the categories of membership of CRFFN which includes the corporate bodies, individual members and associations. So that is why the organizations, that is to say the associations are being used as a platform for administrative convenience to accommodate all the entire membership of the organization. The action caused by the Honourable Minister of Transport of the federal government is in order and Jukwe is there to implement that.
As regards election, they also talked about election. The election they are talking about, the five associations, four out of the five met and looked at the number of representations to be made and the Council via election opted as follows; election is a consensus agreement, four of us agreed that it should be so. So, ANLCA is a minor minority in democracy. And so, what we have said is that NAGAFF because one; we are the biggest organization as far as the size and spread is concerned, we were also the people that initiated and facilitated the emergence of CRFFN and accordingly, we were give 5 slots, ANLCA as the biggest as far as the licensing regulation is concerned 4, others 2 because the entire number is just 15.
There and then, at the time of election, the CRFFN electoral body will go to the various associations and conduct election for each of the associations. The essence of that is to make sure that every association is duly represented in the Council.
Are you saying that rather than bringing all the freight forwarding associations together in order to conduct the election for the 15 slots allocated to them as was the case in the first Council is no longer fashionable this time around?
No, we will not do that again because the first election was comprehensively rigged, that everybody is aware and the essence of the Council is to bring all these various voices together under one platform to become a council and if you leave that again, the CRFFN will continue to suffer what it suffered for the past 5 years.
Why CRFFN did not work was because all other associations were not part of the Council. So, the thing could not go anywhere and it will never go anywhere unless the associations are given the platform and the platform to do that is what we have proffered. And so, the Minister has taken the right step in the right direction to give essential character as far as the sustenance of the Council is concerned.
Talking about Section 5(1), ANLCA also talked about Section 5(2) where it was stipulated that the Minister prior to giving direction under subsection 1 shall serve a copy of the proposed direction on the Council and shall afford the Council the opportunity to make representations to him in respect to the direction. The emphasis here is on a well constituted Governing Council of the CRFFN and not on the Registrar or the associations as the case may be. What is your take on this?
That is not important this time because the Council is not constituted and don’t forget that it is not only the members of the associations that form the Council. There are representations from the government agencies. So, those people are there. Apart from that, the Minister also have the prerogative, the powers under that Section 5 to give general character and direction to the Council so that there won’t be any vacuum in governance and the election is coming and we have said what we should do.
The people you are talking about, call it freight forwarders’ forum or representatives forum which is already represented by the combination of the 5 associations who took those decisions and those decisions were presented to the Minister before he can give direction. So, they don’t have action.
But why is it that ANLCA at this time is insisting on the constitution of the governing council or is there anything to it?
No, no, no, I have told you that they are flying a kite, I have told you what is the main issue. The main issue is the old Council who are feeling now that they are out of the game that is just it. For goodness sake, are you not aware that the President of ANLCA endorsed all documents and was even the one who proffered solutions on going to gazette this thing? Have you been hearing Shittu talk? Shittu has no reason to talk because for me, he knows what the problem is and he agreed to go and solve the problem.
As am talking to you, the Registrar has refused to talk to the so-called committee that they set up. He cannot be talking to everybody. CRFFN is an agency of the government and the matter we are discussing has to with the revenue due to the government. And when people say government, ANLCA, NAGAFF and others are government. So, there is no issue as such.
What is the way forward concerning this issue?
The way forward is for us to learn how to respect the law of the land. When a Minister of the Federal Republic has given direction you are confronting that. I think the problem again has to do with the inability of the Registrar to evoke the relevant sections of the CRFFN Act with the powers of coercion to get job done. That has to do with the enforcement of regulations and of course, CRFFN has a tribunal that if anybody goes to the contrary, such a person should be arrested and arraigned before the tribunal. It is as simple as A, B, C.
But if you still talk about way forward, the way forward is always open for those who are ready to respect the rules of engagement, people have to obey the law even now we have moved into a new administration that seeks to protect the laws of the land , the rule of law must prevail. And to the contrary, anybody who feels otherwise should go to court.
And am aware that the Commissioner of Police in their meeting told them anybody feels aggrieved should go to court rather than taking laws into their hands. It is quite unfortunate and I bet you, Shittu may not talk anymore because he has been talking internally from my vantage position and if I may remind you, that young man, the President of ANLCA is the only person who actually sees the reason for a sustainable Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria because it seeks to proffer professionalism in the business of doing freight forwarding in Nigeria.
Even at the National Assembly during the committee hearing, he was the only person standing when ANLCA was comprehensively against the establishment of the Council. That is an old story, if Kamba, the first President, a Senator of the Federal Republic could come out openly and said he was there to kill the council, Ernest Elochukwu who is also talking was the President of ANLCA then, he opposed the council at the National Assembly. Of course, if you look at some of them, they don’t really have shame, if they have shame, they don’t need to be meddling with the Council because they rejected the council, I recalled that Ohuabunwa told them as the moderator that day, that they were there to make good laws for this country and if they want to have the Council for the Regulation of Licensed Customs Agents, they are there to attend to their bill. So, I am surprised that up till now, they have not sent any bill for the Council for the Regulation of Licensed Customs Agents. Why all these distractions? It doesn’t make sense to me.
So, the solution is always there if we really want to respect the laws of this land. But all the same, we will see what we can do about that. There is no dispute that has been without an end. We will try and reach out to some of them; you know it has come to a time that some of them may not have direction that is the direction we are heading to. So, we will try to help and see how we can work as a team but by way of all these undue harassments and intimidations, we cannot solve the problem because CRFFN is an agent of the government and in no distant time, the government will rise up and evoke the powers to bring people to justice because we cannot continue this way. This is time for change in our country.
