Accredited Associations: Meeting to Resolve Impasse on CRFFN Election May Suffer Hitches
*As accredited associations insist independent candidates must contribute funds for hosting
The planned meeting between leaders of associations of freight forwarders and independent candidates into the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) may run into hitches over issues of funding.
It would be recalled that the Ministry of Transportation had during a meeting with the stakeholders chaired by the Permanent Secretary while recognizing the legal powers of independent candidates to contest election as against the sharing formula put forward by the associations called on all the parties to settle the issue and revert to the Ministry for a peaceful guideline for the election.
It was gathered that the two major associations, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) have agreed to contribute N1.2million each while other three associations are to pay N100,000.00 each.
With a bill of over N5million for the event which is planned in a hotel in Apapa, some of the independent candidates who are being expected to contribute to the funding are said to be reluctant in doing so.
With this development, the meeting appears to be in jeopardy as at the time of filing this report.
It was also gathered that part of the meeting would be to suggest on ‘settling’ some of the independent candidates to concede to the position of the accredited association on the sharing formula for the election and abandon their ambition of contesting the election.
But sources said both leaders of ANLCA and NAGAFF have vowed not to be part of any ‘settlement arrangement’.
By implications, the meeting is likely to fail to achieve any reconciliation except the independent candidates decide to soft-pedal on their own volition based on pressure on them.
However, sources close to the independent candidates said they are not ready to concede to abandon their ambition in contesting the election since it is their constitutional right.
It is also in doubt if the independent candidates will honour the meeting being planned by the associations to avoid being coerced into any decision against their ambition.
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