APFFLON ACCUSES CRFFN GOVERNING BOARD MEMBERS OF CONSPIRACY
By Mcanthony Onuoha
Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria – APFFLON, has accused Board members of Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria -CRFFN of kicking against its accreditation by the Council.
The National President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, in a conversation with The Prestige Blended Magazine, disclosed that some Board members representing the five associations on the CRFFN Board are trying so hard to stop APFFLON from being accredited by the Council. According to Ogunojemite, there are requirements for accreditation and APFFLON met all the requirements.
The APFFLON President condemned the violation of CRFFN by members of the acclaimed accredited associations citing the crises that has kept Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents- ANLCA in and out of Court for over four years now. In his words, ” arbitration is supposed to be one of the statutory functions of the CRFFN, as a freight forwarding regulatory body, it is the duty of Council to wade in where there is serious crises like the one sinking the boat of ANLCA.”
” For any accredited association to bypass the Council that is supposed to have an internal mechanism to resolve and manage crises within its purview and beseech the Court of Law, undermines the core essence of which the Council was established”.
” None of the acclaimed CRFFN accredited associations is qualified to lay claim to right of membership because they have failed to pay their annual subscription fee for over six years now and that alone has invalidated their accreditation because it is not a one off exercise. Those who fail to update their annual filing at the Corporate Affairs Commission for years are still among those claiming to be accredited, they are defaulters whose memberships need to be reviewed. An accredited association that is not paying its annual subscription has no right to remain in the council without being suspended, all of them have defaulted and should be made to pay the accumulated fees before parading themselves as CRFFN Accredited Associations. What have been the contributions of some these associations to the growth and development of the freight forwarding subsector ?”
However, The Prestige Blended Magazine learned that APFFLON had agreed to withdraw the legal action it instituted against CRFFN as a 6man Committee has been set up by the Governing Council Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni to begin the process of accrediting the association.
Otunba Ogunojemite who did not hide his sadness over what he termed as grand conspiracy by Governing Council members from the five accredited freight forwarding associations to halt the exercise, disclosed that a committee comprising CRFFN and APFFLON representatives was set up to reconcile the conflicting issues so as to get APFFLON accredited, adding that there was no reason why the association should not be accredited since it met all the criteria.
” We deliberated on the court case and agreed to withdraw it as part of the conditions to make peace. However, l have received information that in subsequent meeting of the CRFFN Governing Council, representatives from some freight forwarding associations kicked against APFFLON’s accreditation. They ganged against the decision of the Council. I suspect that this is a ploy to push for the 6-6-1-1-1. It is unfortunate that these associations that haven’t paid their subscriptions to CRFFN in over six years are stopping other legitimate associations from coming onboard”.
