The founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has said that there was no truth in the report that suggests that the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was not favourably disposed to inaugurate the elected Governing Council members of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) on the ground that many of them are card carrying members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Aniebonam who made this known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos stated that the delay had nothing to do with politics even as he posited that the Honourable Minister would not condensate to that level.
While stating that CRFFN is a professional council set up to administer the practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria, he however challenged anyone with tangible proof of any of the elected council member who is a member of the PDP to come forward with such name.
According to him,” Those things are rubbish, it is of no consequence. CRFFN is a professional council to administer a professional body of freight forwarders; it has nothing to do with politics and the Honourable Minister will not condensate to that level. But come to think of it, who are those that are PDP people there? Do you have any name you can mention? This is what I consider pure blackmail and I think we should be more than this”.
On why the inauguration was being delayed more than one month after the elections into the Governing Council had been concluded, Aniebonam who is also the National Chairman of the New Nigeria People’ Party (NNPP) said,” I think that why this issue of inauguration is lingering is because, from my informed position, the Honourable Minister wants to inaugurate the Council by himself, not to delegate it to anybody otherwise he would have asked the Permanent Secretary to do so.
“I am sure you know the Honourable Minister of Transportation is the Director-General of Mr. President’s campaign team for the 2019 elections, I am sure you can see the level of defections from APC to PDP and vice versa. Nobody will tell you that somehow, things are not normal within the government itself and the Honourable Minister is a critical person.
“The information reaching me is that you hardly see him in office because he has so much to do. The Permanent Secretary incidentally, is handling administrative matters because he has a lot to do on behalf of Mr. President.
“I spoke with Hassan Bello who is outside the country on the issue of this inauguration and you may be surprised to know that the Permanent Secretary has been on official assignment out of this country, he just came back, is he not the one to factor all this? So, why do some people sit down there and be causing confusion everywhere in the name of reporting?”
He however pointed out that CRFFN was the smallest thing that was before the Honourable Minister of Transportation under the circumstances saying that he was aware that the Transport Ministry was very happy with the coming together of the various freight forwarding associations to agree to form a common front to elect their representatives in the Council.
“They couldn’t believe it that the freight forwarders under the various associations can come together and agree on the best way to administer themselves. It is the best thing that has happened. He is very happy particularly with NAGAFF that masterminded this unity among the registered freight forwarders”, he added.
He therefore advised the media to verify their fact before dishing out information to the public and shun speculative journalism adding that,” we cannot continue this way”.
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