The Founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has stated that the hues and cries over who becomes the Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, are uncalled for considering the caliber of persons already elected as members of the Council.

Speaking with Maritime Nigeria Crew in his office at the NAGAFF Village in Lagos, Dr. Aniebonam who doubles as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, stated that the first Council was bungled from inception because it was not properly constituted.

According to him, “Nigerians have a way of looking down on freight forwarders. No matter your level of education, trainings, exposure and accomplishments in life, the fact that you are a freight forwarder makes people who are not your equal in any way to look at you in a derogatory manner, which explains why, some persons, notwithstanding the quality of persons who have been elected as members of the Council are still bothered about who becomes the chairman of the Council. For us at NAGAFF it is a non-issue, we are not bothered”.

Aniebonam who expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the CRFFN elections called on stakeholders to watch out for a vibrant Council as constituted because it is the Council members that drive and pilot the Council, not the Chairman.

In his words “We know that NAGAFF has the capacity to produce the Chairman and even vice chairman of the Council but we are not a greedy people, we believe in live and let live, we believe in being our brothers’ keeper. We have secured our place in the Council and we are okay. The Council affairs will be steered and handled by committees-which is where the real work is, so irrespective of who emerges as chairman, NAGAFF is there to make informed inputs that will make the Council deliver on its mandate. This should be the concern of stakeholders”.

Aniebonam disclosed that the guidelines for the election of the Council’s Chairman are clearly stated in the Constitution of the CRFFN. However, he averred that the whole intent of any law should be about the good of man and society.

He therefore called on freight forwarders to stay together, stand together and resist distractions that could truncate the Council and derail its activities in this dispensation.