Apparently worried about the poor cargo clearance in port operations , freight forwarders and licensed customs agents nationwide on Monday , expressed dissatisfaction over the abysmal activities in the nation’s maritime industry.
The stakeholders in a meeting held in Lagos and Rivers States respectively, stressed the need for all registered associations under the Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to speak with one voice in unity, as part of measures to address the bottlenecks militating against cargoes clearance from the seaports.
The All Freight Forwarders Forum with theme “Ways forward on challenges militating against cargo clearance ” has in attendance members ; Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) ; and National Council of Managing Director Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) .
Others are Association of Registered Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (AREFFN) and National Association of Air Freight Forwarding Consolidators (NAFFAC).
Speaking at the maritime stakeholders forum, National President, ANLCA, Chief Tony Iju Nwabunike assured that the marriage among the five associations would work out modalities on how to improve on port efficiency in promoting the ease of doing business in cargo clearance.
Nwabunike expressed worries over moves by the government to hijack CRFFN , saying the associations will not fold their hands and allow the freight forwarding sub sector to collapse in the hands of government.
Also speaking, Founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam called on stakeholders who are yet to register with any of the accredited associations with CRFFN in the sub sector to do the needful in line with freight forwarding regulation mandates.
Dr Aniebonam who expressed doubt over the capability of the commitee to conduct a credible election into the Governing Counci of CRFFN, said the postponment of the screening of candidates without informing the candidates nor the associations is a prove of their unpreparedness to handle the task.
“What they need to do now is to convene under emergency, stakeholders meeting. When you convene such meeting that is when whoever that represents Honourable Minister or he himself will now come and ask the freight forwarders, the owners of the act, we want to conduct election, we did it the other time it was peaceful, is there any amendment to be done in the old one? Just listen to them , after then, you go and formulate the policy,” he said.
“As am telling you now , nobody has told them why they were not there.You know this problem keeps occurring and reoccurring in CRFFN.
On his part , Chairman Board of Trustees, NCMDLCA, Dr. Rauf Ladipo called for equity and fairness in the forthcoming CRFFN election.
According to him,the collaboration of the associations to grow the freight forwarding sub sector of the maritime sector was long overdue.
NAFFAC President,Prince Adeyinka Bakare said all hands must be on deck for the sub sector to move forward.
By Roland Ekama
Caption:
From Right: Founder of NAGAFF Dr Boniface Aniebonam, National President of ANLCA,Chief Tony Iju Nwabunike,BOT Chairman, NCMDLCA,Chief Rauf Ladipo and Financial Secretary, ANLCA Bola Muse at the All freight forwarders forum held in Lagos on Monday.
