…Gives new deadline for submission of nomination forms
…As stakeholder kicks against provisions of electoral guidelines
Following the postponement and the subsequent rescheduling of the election into the governing council of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), the Registrar of CRFFN, Sir Mike Jukwe has said that the nomination forms alongside detailed election timetable and manuals are now available for collection from Monday, May 28, 2018 at the Council’s headquarters in Apapa as well as at its zonal offices in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
Recalled that Primetime Reporters last week broke the news of the postponement of the election earlier scheduled for 16th of May, 2018 and rescheduled for 29th of June, 2018 to enable members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) withdraw their pending case against the Council from a Federal High Court in Lagos as well as to give room for more consultations with the relevant stakeholders in the election.
However, a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by Jukwe added that submission of completed nomination forms would now elapse by June 15, 2018 as against the initial date given.
While expressing appreciation to stakeholders for their cooperation, the Registrar reaffirmed CRFFN’s readiness for a successful governing council election that would enhance the repositioning of the sub-sector to enviable heights.
Meanwhile, former National President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), Dr. Frank Ukor has called for a review of the election guideline earlier released by the CRFFN adding that the conditions spelt out in the guidelines are too stringent to be realized.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos, Ukor stated that a situation where the contestants were made to pay two hundred thousand Naira (N200,000) for nomination forms and twenty-five thousand Naira (N25,000) annual subscription since 2010 was too much burden for the aspirants to bear.
Ukor contended that it was wrong for the Council to be demanding annual subscription dating back to 2010 when it had not actually rendered services to the freight forwarders since then reminding it that Servicom was against collecting money for services not rendered.
According to him,” We have appealed to the Registrar to waive all these ones that have happened all these years, let us start from 2015 and we will pay and we will ask our members to come and pay. He said he will think about it and they are now coming to ask us to pay the money we have not paid all this years because nothing was happening since 2010.
And if we pay, that means, each person will pay N225, 000. So, for you to contest election, you must pay N200,000 for form, N225,000 and then you have to get ten people to sign form for you and these ten people are supposed to have paid their annual subscriptions from 2010 till now, that is N225,000. So, for ten people, that will be N2, 250,000. That is what you are supposed to cough out. And you know the system within the industry, people can’t pay but when election comes, if you want, then you pay for them and that is what they are capitalizing on. Most people are waiting now, if you want me to sign for you, then you pay for me. By the time you add it up, it will amount to N2, 250,000, and then you add up your N425, 000, how much is it?
“It is not enough, they want the election held at Abuja, and they don’t provide accommodation. We are supposed to provide accommodation. If you want people to vote for you, you have to provide transport for them, provide accommodation for them, and provide feeding for them for two to three days. Just calculate how much one will have to pay to be able to contest this election. If say you want people to pay on their own, if you come there, you won’t see anybody. Now, only the people who are money bags will get into the place. How many people have the money?
“The other condition that they put there is that if you have in any way opposed CRFFN, you are not qualified, if you have ever gone to court against CRFFN, you are not qualified. If you have ever done anything against CRFFN or talked anything against CRFFN, you are not qualified and that if you are holding any position either appointed or elected in any of the associations, you are not qualified.
“Who then are those who are qualified and the people that are in the leadership of the associations are the people who are knowledgeable about what is happening. The other ones, not that they are not knowledgeable but most of them, either they don’t have the professional knowledge to run the affairs or they are not even interested and these are the people they now want to put into the council.
“So, these are some of the reasons we were asking them to review these conditions, it is too hard. Since most of us are here, let them come down here and conduct the election but the best option would have been, since there are fifteen positions, share them among the registered associations so that every association is represented there, let them go to their Secretariat, conduct the election quietly, it will cost less money and will be rancor free”.
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