Raises alarm over planned ‘crowd renting’
By Eniola Idris
Freight forwarders under the aegis of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), stressed the need for the elections into the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to be held in Lagos, rather than Abuja.
The group, in an open letter to the chairman, electoral committee of CRFFN, signed by the Secretary General, NAGAFF, Dipo Olayoku, said this is important considering the deplorable state of the roads and the security situation in the country.
Besides, the group observed that the time frame of one-month given by the Electoral Committee for the entire process beginning with collection of forms up to the actual voting may be inadequate for preparations for an election of this magnitude
It however suggested a three – month time frame to ensure a robust implementation of the election guidelines.
“The extension will enable a joint stakeholders meeting involving the Electoral Committee and other critical participants in the CRFFN family, especially the five registered associations to cross- fertilize ideas on how to fine -tune the process for the CRFFN Governing Board’s election for a better result,” it stated.
On the venue, NAGAFF stated: “While we appreciate the powers of the Committee to fix date and venue for elections, we are however compelled to suggest that the election be moved to Lagos for obvious reasons.
“First, it is on record that about 85% of cargo clearance is carried out in the Western Ports. In other words, the bulk of freight forwarders are domiciled in South Western Nigeria. The consequences of moving this huge number of people to Abuja might be too enormous on the infrastructural facilities of the country as well as the safety and security of the voters.
“We are making this suggestion in the face of the deplorable state of the roads and the security situation in the country. While praising the efforts of Government and security agents in bringing the situation under control, we believe Nigerians should reduce the rate of exposing themselves to danger, especially long travels on the highways.
“We are also conscious of the devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, it is possible to observe all the COVID-19 safety protocols at voting centres, it might not be possible to ensure this while moving thousands of these voters to Abuja, in view of the attitude of most road transporters who are more concerned with profits than any other considerations.
“Governments at all levels are battling to contend with the challenges of this time, especially with the pandemic, and we as citizens must complement these efforts by avoiding situations that might escalate the pandemic,” it stated.
Raising a vote-of-no-confidence on the registration process, it stated: “if care is not taken, the forthcoming elections might be hijacked by moneybags who may not know about freight forwarding practice.
“Reports reaching us showed that some of these moneybags might be engaging in crowd-renting, registering non- freight forwarders for the purpose of voting in the forthcoming Governing Council election. This was never and can never be the intendment of some of us who worked for the establishment of the CRFFN.
“We may provide more details during the stakeholders meeting we proposed to you to hold with major stakeholders to fine tune the electoral processes toward the scheduled October 9, 2021 election.
“We therefore urge you to put machineries in place to ensure that non-freight forwarders are not allowed to vote. For this reason, we want to suggest that any fresh registration after the announcement of the Guidelines for the election is barred from voting,” it stated.
