CRFFN election: There’ll be problem if it’s corporate-based, NAGAFF boss warns
By Ray Ugochukwu
As the forthcoming elections of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is around the corner, the Council has been warned on the dangers of basing the exercise on corporate bodies instead of individuals.
The warning is coming from no other person than the National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Chief Increase Uche.
Speaking in a chat with a cross-section of the media recently, Chief Uche made it clear that CRFFN had been individual-based; hence elections into the Governing Council of the body should tow the same line.
He pointed out that the Act establishing the Council, Clause 1,was specific as to those for whom the body was to regulate their affairs, which were individuals, regretting that in the past elections this had been jettisoned resulting in the near comatose state of the body.
Uche remarked that that act was an anomaly, which the coming election should correct, for according to him, the CRFFN was established to develop individual’s capacity for the operation of freight forwarding in the country.
He added that even when one talked about corporate bodies, it was individuals that would drive the entities; hence the individual’s capacity should be developed to run the corporate bodies.
The NAGAFF boss therefore warned that should the Council still veer off the track as was the case in the past by making the election corporate body-based, there would be problem in the exercise.
“As far as I’m concerned and the Act establishing the CRFFN is concerned, the coming election should be based on individuals and not corporate bodies as was the case in the previous elections.
“The Act establishing the Council is quite clear on this, as it is stated in Clause 1. This was the mistake they made in the last election when they made it corporate-based. What the Council regulates is the individual who should build enough capacity to drive freight forwarding in Nigeria”, the NAGAFF President said.
He added, “I believe in the forthcoming election, the Council will not repeat the same mistake of basing the election on corporate membership. After all, it is the individual that drives corporate bodies and requires capacity-building. Registration is based on individuals.
“If they fail to make it individual-based as stated in the Act, there will be problem. I believe they won’t make that mistake”.
On his impression about the movement of containers from the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) to the Inland Container Depot in Kaduna, he described it as good development that should be encouraged in order to decongest the port access roads.
He however, advised that the idea should not be concentrated on LPC alone, saying that other ports like Tin Can Island Port and such other facilities in the country should be linked by rail to ease business in the system.
Uche counseled his members, especially those up north, to leverage on the Lagos-Kaduna rail link to move their cargoes thereby expanding the scope of their businesses.
Increase Uche, NAGAFF President
