Founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has threatened that the four freight forwarding associations under the aegis of the Concerned Accredited Freight Forwarding Associations (CAFFA) may pass a vote of no- confidence on the Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) if he fails to take firm disciplinary action against its erring members.
Aniebonam stated this when he led presidents of the four associations namely NAGAFF, a faction of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders (AREFF) and National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC) to a press briefing in Lagos yesterday.
Recalling the attack on some CRFFN officials and other freight forwarders at Seme border recently which was allegedly carried out by members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) over the collection of practitioners’ operating fee, Aniebonam said that had Jukwe recognised his authority as the Registrar of the council which is an agency of the government, he should have written to the Inspector General of Police to arrest and prosecute those responsible for such act.
“Jukwe will definitely be our next line of action if he cannot take responsibility and act accordingly. Leadership has a lot to do with who is in charge, we have told him and I hope he will listens to us.
“What Jukwe would have done if he knows the position he is holding is to write to the IGP as the head of an agency of government.
“CRFFN is an agency of the government and the registrar has the powers of the president to make a formal write-up to the IGP and anything an association or anybody does contrary to the law is criminal and the police will prosecute the person but he is waiting for the Transport Ministry to come and fight for him when they have given him the power,” Aniebonam said.
Meanwhile, the presidents of the four associations have called on the Transport Ministry and the CRFFN to deregister ANLCA over its opposition to the collection of the practicing fee which led to the alleged assault of some officials of the council.
In a letter signed by the President of NAGAFF, Chief Eugene Nweke, factional President of NCMDLCA, Festus Ejiofor, President of AREFFN, Dr. Frank Ukor and the President of National of NAFFAC, C. A. T Agubamah and sent to the Ministry on Monday, the leadership of the associations said the sanction was necessary to serve as deterrent to others.
“If ANLCA is not duly sanctioned for their wanton breach of the law and peace in the society, it would be sending a wrong signal and a dangerous precedence for others of ANLCA’s ilk who may in all likelihood continue with this sort of impunity and disdain for constituted authority,”
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