Ex-CRFFN Chairman, Olanrewaju, Accuses Board Members of Clandestine Moves to Extend Tenure

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• Says new mandatory qualifications for freight forwarders demanded by council suspicious
By Francis Ugwoke
Immediate past Chairman, Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, (CRFFN), Fwdr Aaree Hakeem Olanrewaju, is not happy with the way the Council is run, accusing the management and board members of lack of direction for the good corporate objective of the regulatory agency.
Olanrewaju pointed out that for a management and board which kicked-off in 2018 to now begin the process of enthroning a new professional qualification for members at the end of the tenure of the board members was suspicious.
In a press statement, the former Chairman of the board said the expectation from practitioners is for the Council to release election timetable instead of the notice , “flyers in circulation being a notice for all members to register themselves properly by possessing the mandatory qualifications”.
According to him, this is even moreso since the Council was yet to deny allegations that its board members were planning to remain in office after their tenure expired since July 2020.
He condemned the coercion of practitioners into possessing mandatory qualification while the real issue was left unattended to.
“The present flyers in circulation being a notice for all members to register themselves properly by possessing the mandatory qualifications is what was expected of the governing council and management to have kick started since 2018. Turning around to issue such professional notice, at this crucial time, when the tenure of the Third Governing Council has elapsed since July, 2020 ( i.e. July 2018 to July 2020). If professional administrative focus is anything to go by, the right notice to be reel out to the Professionals is NOTICE OF ELECTION INTO THE GOVERNING COUNCIL AND THE ELECTORAL GUIDELINES THEREIN. One may begin to consider this administrative notice on the grounds of legitimacy and viewed from the point of view of a clandestine moves to coaxing the practitioners while the real issue are left unattended to.
“You recall that it was reported in the news, where the Governing Council were accused of plotting to extend their tenure by two additional years. To this moment, there is no official refutal to this report. One obvious fact, that must be stated and put straight, is that the Act 16,2007 is an extant laws of the Federation, as such pending the conclusion of the amendment process presently on going at the National Assembly relevant provisions are extant. Most importantly, the Council remains a professional council with a clear legislative intents and purposes”
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Olanrewaju called on the governing council members not to truncate nor make mockery of its two years statutory democratic elective succession as provided in the act, for mere parochialism, adding that the right thing should be done.
On funding issues, Olanrewaju observed that the Council has placed so much emphasis on collection of Port Operating Fees (POF) and closing its eyes to other sources of revenue available in the industry.
He said this was happening at a time that many members were out to ensure that the POF is not collected.
For instance, he said, “many have stratgized themselves into subgroups elements, waiting, monitoring the effective collection of the POF with a sole aim to be in possession of an evidence to the effect, to fast track and support their intents to challenge its application before a court of competent jurisdiction, this in another phrase is called “spoiling for a fight”.

He however noted the unwillingness of members to pay annual subscription fees and other professional related fees by the freight forwarders, adding that this was a big administrative challenge.
He said, “This is a big administrative challenge, because as what it takes to keep both the professionals and profession promptly afloat in the industry and relevant amongst the comity of global freight forwarding nations is a prompt administrative funding in all ramifications. The big question posed by some regulatory authority officials, ” When an acclaimed professionals fails to pay yearly professional practicing fees, etc is such an individual worthy to ascribe to as being a professional or practitioners? it means we have too many non professional amongst the freight forwarding sub-sector of the maritime industry. That’s too bad”.
He opined that if government roles will derail the objectives of CRFFN, government has to consider leaving them alone by granting the freight forwarders their professional independence.
He said, “if the roles and interests of the government will derail or defeat the intendments of the Act 16, 2007, then for professional sustainability and posterity sake, on behalf of the Nigeria Freight Forwarders, I wish to beg the government to please GRANT THE FORWARDERS THIER PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENT AND LET THE FORWARDERS ALONE in the order of the biblical, “Pharaoh Let My People Go”.