For daring to openly oppose the sharing formula system of election agreed to by the four out of the five accredited freight forwarding associations during the stakeholders’ meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Mrs. Magdaline Ajani today in Lagos, the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has directed the immediate removal of the names of the former National President of NAGAFF, Dr. Eugene Nweke, the incumbent National President of NAGAFF, Dr. Increase Uche and former Secretary of NAGAFF, Tincan Island chapter, Mr. Emeka Godfrey Nwosu from all the social media platforms owned by the association.
It will be recalled that the five accredited freight forwarding associations namely; NAGAFF, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Nigerian Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN) had earlier in a meeting on Monday this week agreed to a sharing formula in the ratio of 6:6:1:1:1 to elect members who will occupy the fifteen seats allotted to the freight forwarders in the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) by the Act 16 of 2007.
However, at the stakeholders’ meeting organized in Lagos today for the freight forwarders by the Federal Ministry of Transportation to discuss the modalities for the election, the National President of ANLCA, Iju Tony Nwabunike, founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam and the Chairman, Board of Trustees, NCMDLCA, Dr. Rafiu Oladipo submitted their position paper to the Permanent Secretary and took turns to convince her of the need for the Ministry to adopt and endorse the position of the accredited association on the sharing formula as agreed upon by them “voluntarily.”
But in a twist of fate, the National President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), Alhaji Bala Daura refused to sign the position paper submitted to the Permanent Secretary by four out of the five accredited freight forwarding associations citing the decision taken by the freight forwarders in the Eastern Zone as his reason for not signing the document. He further said that AREFFN has grown further in strength and spread in the past three years that it can no longer take one slot out of fifteen slots allotted to the freight forwarders.
On their part, Dr. Eugene Nweke and Mr. Emeka Godfrey Nwosu together with some few others vehemently opposed the position of the accredited associations arguing that there were three categories of membership of CRFFN namely; individual, corporate and association and that it would be wrong to allow one category namely; the association, to present candidates for the election at the expense of the two others – individual and corporate.
They argued that since most of them had bought forms as independent candidates, it would be unfair to shove them aside and allow the associations to present candidates in the manner that they had submitted to the Permanent Secretary.
Reacting, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdaline Ajani advised the freight forwarders to go back and put their house in order and come up with a better option to conduct the election for them factoring in all interests and leaving no one behind.
She reminded them that the Act allows room for individuals to contest election into the Governing Council independently and without passing through or being sponsored by any association.
Not satisfied with the position the Permanent Secretary took on the matter and feeling let down by his own people at the meeting, Dr. Aniebonam ordered that their names be removed from all the social media platforms owned NAGAFF until further notice.
The directive as issued by Dr. Aniebonam and obtained by our correspondent reads, “Internal directive—- I hereby direct that the following members of NAGAFF be removed from all NAGAFF Whatsapp platforms, Facebook and Instagram with immediate effect: Dr. Increase Uche, Dr. Eugene Nweke and Mr. Emeka Nwosu.
“All chapter Chairmen, Secretary General and Deputy National President hqrs should ensure compliance till further notice. I shall make further statement in due course. Dr. Aniebonam founder NAGAFF.”
Although, the National President of NAGAFF, Dr. Increase Uche was at the meeting, he, however, did not make any statement during the meeting but his name was included among the trio as he was believed to be working behind the scene alongside Nweke, Nwosu and others to sabotage the interest of NAGAFF in the coming election.
Photo: Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF.
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