After five years of crisis, CRFFN inaugurates ANLCA Board
Lagos – Following the resolution of the crisis that has rocked the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, has inaugurated an eight-member board of trustees, BoT, for the association.
The inauguration of the board took place at the first annual general meeting of the association in Lagos.
The members of the board are Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, Dayo Azeez, Mr Ernest Elochukwu, Mr Dennis
Okafor, Mr Ozo Chukwura, Alhaji Shamsideen Awopeju, Mr Kingsley Offor and Eniola Igbaruola. A former BoT member, Mr Taiye Oyeniyi, stepped down from the board to be a patron of the association.
The members of the board: Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, Dayo Azeez,Sir. Ernest Elochukwu, Chief Dennis Okafor, Prince Ozo Chukwura, Alhaji Shamsideen Awopeju, Mr. Kingsley Offor and Eniola Igbaruola.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that ANLCA, for the past five year, was having crisis with regard to the tenure of the BoT.
The chairman, CRFFN, Alhaji Abubakar Sani, noted that the inauguration of the board had reduced the tension among members in the association, urging those present to relay the decisions taken to those absent as those present took responsibility for them.
He also urged members to understand that it was important for everybody to register with the CRFFN as that would guarantee them operating in the industry, pointing out that a tribunal had been set up which would soon start working and the aim was to ensure that only registered freight forwarders would operate in the country.
"The essence of the meeting is to have understanding in the association and whatever that was not concluded today will in due course be done so," he said.
In his response, a board member, Mustapha noted that he was expecting a situation whereby both sides would clap, hug and laugh together and was happy to see such.
"We were able to calm the nerves of our members before coming for this meeting and we beg that whoever we offended, in the spirit of forgiveness should forgive us," he said.
Also, Chukwura urged all members to calm down as whatever they want for the association they would get but they needed to move the association forward.
Dr Kayode Farinto, acting President, ANLCA, noted that to members that the industry and members had suffered for the past five years and so the need to make peace.
Farinto urged members to key into CRFFN and be registered, adding that by the end of this year, if they are not certified and are practicing, they could go to jail. "We have collapsed two structures, old and new board and the next AGM we will have soon, we must confine the rule of our board to what is stated in the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
"This crisis has exposed ANLCA and made people to know that the role of the board is meant to be advisory. But we had a situation where the board was taking executive function," he said.