The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has toed the line of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in charging the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to deregister associations that , allegedly, are not qualified to be listed in the register of the Council.
Founder, NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, while receiving a delegation of CRFFN enforcement officials led by its Director, Regulation and Enforcement, Mr. Basil Oparah, in his office last Thursday alleged that the last three accredited associations do not have the capacity to run as associations.
The alleged trio are the National Council od Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), the Nigeria Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders, Nigeria (AREFFN).
“If we don’t follow the CRFFN Act, we will get it wrong. The criteria for the registration of associations needs to be revisited I read and even heard on radio the President of ANLCA making strong cases as to the issue of the registration of the last three associations. The criteria are very open and clear and if politically somebody registers these associations because of personal interest then the enforcement comes in look into this issue,” Aniebonam said.
He charged the CRFFN enforcement unit to remedy the situation by thoroughly conducting the inspection and verification exercises of the facilities of these associations and make appropriate recommendations.
Also speaking, the NAGAFF National President, Chief Eugene Nweke, also expressed misgivings about the leadership qualities of the heads of these associations noting that the “place of the pulpit should be above the pew”.
Nweke said: “If you are a leader of an association, you should lead by example. There are attributes you should have to portray you as a leader. A situation you say you are a president of an association but at the end of the day you are not knowledgeable about the profession. Looking at Act you cannot even define what freight forwarding is! So ,how can you be going up and down calling yourself as a president of a freight forwarding association?”
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