Management of the National Association of Governmemt Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has intervened to relax the threats of service withdrawal by truckers and freight forwarders over ineptitude of the Presidential Taskforce on Apapa traffic.
The umbrella body of freight forwarders disclosed that the association calmed the actors down because of the already tensed atmosphere in the country.
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and some members of NAGAFF constituted a body called Committee of Freight Forwarders and Maritime Truck Owners (COFFAMAT) last week, threatened the Presidential Taskforce with a 48 hours ultimatum for them to vacate the port corridors .
The National President of NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche who disclosed this on Tuesday, when the association played host to the new Face Of Maritime International (FOMI) 2020 winner, reiterated that:”It was an after thought of some rabble rousers and when we got the hint last week, we calmed them down because of the heat in the country.
“I want to implore our people to calm down and channel all our grievances through the right channel.
Uche said that the new queen who is an ambassador of the group, will be of tremendous value addition in projecting the advocacy role of the association.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate the winner of the Face Of Maritime International (FOMI) 2020 that was won by NAGAFF candidate, Miss Blessing Nweke.
“The value addition is enormous because we are looking at the situation where the new queen will advance the advocacy role of NAGAFF in the industry.”
The NAGAFF boss said that the lockdown resulting from disruptions from #EndSARS protest across the country had a huge negative effect on the trade of freight forwarders.
The National President said that the lockdown affected the businesses of freight forwarders because of the time of cargo delivery especially for those who are servicing loans.
“The #EndSARS protest affected our operations because the lockdown caused a lot of hardship one is the demurrage and the storage charges but thank God that the operators understand the hat the whole thing was all about. It was like a false margin that was not created by anybody.
“Looking at the delays and some of us that took loans, the pay back time,there is bound to be depreciation of investment.
Speaking on the recent arson on the headquarters building of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), he called for a support for the agency while condemning the act.
He aligned with the Managing Director of the agency that the destruction may not have much impact on the operations in the port.
“NPA is just one arm in the industry. Looking at the current port model operated, NPA only provides technical support and supervisor role to terminal operators who manage the terminals.
“She needs our support at this particular time even that she needs our support.
The winner, Blessing Nweke who incidentally was the candidate of the association for the 2020 edition emerged victorious after scoring 974 marks out of 1000.
By Roland Ekama
