Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has once again described the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN) as a non government body whose board should be excluded from President Bola Tinubu’s recent boards dissolution of all government agencies.
Aniebonam who was reacting to a recent news report on CRFFN’s removal from accessing budgetary allocations with effect from January 2014, opined that the council is not an agency of government.
He reminded that the Governing Council Chairman and members were not appointees of the president as they emerged through an election where registered and practicing freight forwarders voted.
Aniebonam faulted the idea of seeing and regarding the CRFFN as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Transportation(FMoT)
He said “The dissolution of federal boards by Mr President is not expected to affect the CRFFN Governing Board because it is not an agency of the government.
“The chairman of the board and members are duly elected by freight forwarders of Nigeria. The court pronunciations does not affect the status of the council act
“The CRFFN started to fail when attempts were being made to give it a semblance of government agency. We have to go back to the beginning. From Day One CRFFN has never been an agency of the government. I have said this before but nobody listened to me and i said that time shall tell.
“We are still at the appeal court to reverse the avoidable court decision in the lower Court when we sought for interpretation. It is regrettable that the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the CRFFN board may not have added value to the wellness of the council
The Federal Government few days ago approved removal of The Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and other similar bodies from accessing budgetary allocations with effect from January 2024.
The decision was a fallout from the Presidential Committee on Salaries(PCS) recommendation communicated to the CRFFN and other similar bodies through the Budget Office of the Federation.
Dated June 26 , 2023, the letter which was signed by Ben Akabueze, Director General of Budget Office of the Federation , reads in part ” I wish to inform you that the Presidential Committee on Salaries at it’s 13th meeting approved the discontinuation of budgetary allocation to professional bodies/councils effective 1st January 2024.
“The purpose of this letter therefore is to inform you that in compliance with the PCS’ directive, this office will no longer make budgetary provision for your institution, which means you will be regarded henceforth as a self funded organisation.
” For the avoidance of doubt, you will be required effective 1st January 2024 to be fully responsible for your personnel, overhead and capital expenditures” the letter stated.
The move is widely believed to be a precursor to the likely merger of some government agencies and more cost saving austere measures to be implemented by the President Bola Tinubu
