CRFFN, Tanko Debunk  Inauguration Of Governing Board 

Chairman of the 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, has debunked claims that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Ameachi has inaugurated the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
Tanko also stated that there was nothing like the imposition of a Chairman on the board and that the selection of principal officers was done by consensus of all the elected and appointed members, who were present at the meeting.
He told The New Experience Newspaper that contrary to reports that the board had been inaugurated, what took place was a meeting with the Minister of Transportation on the election of principal officers, including the Chairman.
“I’ve just returned from Abuja. While there, I heard people saying that the Governing Board of the CRFFN has been inaugurated, but that is not true. They invited us to a meeting with the minister. To me, the purpose of the meeting was to elect the chairman and the vice-chairman,” he said.
He informed that as they settled down for the meeting, the minister walked in saying he had not more than one minute to spend with the members. He said the purpose of the gathering was to see if all could agree that “the status quo should remain” to which everybody chorused “yes.”
He stated that as the minister was about to leave, one of them asked him about the formal inauguration of the board to which he answered that left to him, the body was as good as having been inaugurated.
At this juncture, he disclosed that a lawyer representing the ministry clarified that the forum was not for the inauguration and that formal letters to communicate when the exercise would take place, would be written to them.

He said thereafter, that the minister left and that the Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni, addressed the members, thanking them for their support and promising to work with them all the meeting ended after that.
According to him, what happened was that as we settled down for the meeting, the minister walked in and told us that he did not have more than one minute to spend with us, because of other engagements. He said the essence of convening the meeting was “to find out if we all can agree that the status quo should remain and by that he meant that if the chairman and the vice should continue and we all said yes.

“Nobody objected to his suggestion. If anybody had objected, we would have conducted the election there and then, but nobody did. I’m surprised to hear people saying he imposed the Chairman on us. There was nothing like that. I challenge anybody, who says this is not what happened to come out and prove me wrong.”

The New Experience Newspaper sighted one of the letters of invitation sent to elected members for the meeting, which did not state anything about the inauguration.
The letter, dated April 21, 2022, read: “I am directed to invite you to a meeting with the Minister of Transportation as an elected member of the Governing Council Board of CRFFN.”
Signed by an Assistant Director, Inland Container Depots for the minister, Ekanem U. David, the letter added that the time for the meeting was May 4, 2022, at 1:00 p.m.
Tanko, an elected member of the Governing Board, explained that before going for the meeting, representatives of NAGAFF had decided to support the former Chairman, Tsanni to continue in office, while Princess Chi Eze, who polled the highest number of votes in the March election, had indicated interest to vie for the vice chairmanship position.
However, according to him, when the minister raised the issue of the status quo remaining, they expected Eze to declare her interest, but she kept quiet, which was interpreted to mean jettisoning her ambition. By that, the frontline freight forwarder informed Chief Henry Njoku of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), and retained his seat as Vice Chairman.
It would be recalled that shortly after the meeting with the minister, there were reports that the Governing Board had been inaugurated with the minister by imposing his election campaign chief on the CRFFN for another term.
The CRFFN Board comprises 32 members, 15 of which are freight forwarders elected into the council during the elections in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt on March 9, 2022, while the government selected 17 members from different agencies.
The agencies include the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA); Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Federal Ministry of Education and Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).
Others are the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT); University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT).
Also, there are six appointees representing the geo-political zones of the country including Katsina for North West; Yobe (North East); Lagos (South West); Edo (South-South); Imo (South East) and Kwara (North Central).