… Warns it will lead to anarchy at Nigerian ports
African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has lamented a gang-up by accredited freight forwarding associations against the Transport Ministry’s directive to open up the elections of Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to individuals.
Following a meeting of all accredited associations under the CRFFN, the groups agreed to have a sharing formula that would see the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) get 6 slots, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) 6 slots, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) picks 1, Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) gets 1 and the National Association of Freight Forwarders and Airfreight Consolidators (NAFFAC) gets 1.
At a meeting of the accredited freight forwarding associations under the aegis of Freight Forwarders Forum (FFF), practitioners unanimously agreed to the arrangement even as they resolved to ensure only those candidates that emerge from associations are eligible to be voted for in the polls.
Consequently, the President of APFFLON, Otunba. Frank Ogunojemite has described the development as a gang-up against the Transport Minister’s directive on the CRFFN elections.
The APFFLON boss in a press statement issued today said: “Are they saying people registered as individual members of CRFFN or on the basis of companies should not vote or be voted for? The outcome of that meeting yesterday is obviously a gang-up against the initial Ministerial directive to have the positions open to everyone registered with CRFFN either as an individual, a company or an association.”
He argued that if the position of the five CRFFN accredited associations is allowed to hold, it could be the beginning of anarchy in freight forwarding practice in the country.
“The Transport Minister, Department of State Security (DSS), Assistant Inspector-General of Police in-charge of maritime and all maritime stakeholders should be informed of this strategic ploy to hijack CRFFN. These associations have formed a cartel and their agenda isn’t in interest of the sector as they claim. This would definitely usher in an era of lawlessness in the sector,” he added.
He argued that the freight forwarders who attended the Freight Forwarders Forum in Apapa, Lagos yesterday, didn’t represent the entirety of freight forwarding practitioners in the country, adding that several key members and executives of the five associations also stayed away from the meeting.
He further argued that the proposed 6:6:1:1:1 sharing formula by some associations was not in the Act establishing the CRFFN and therefore unconstitutional.
“Therefore, it is illegal and an intention to create anarchy in the country”, he submitted.
Photo: Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, President, APFFLON.
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