Freight Monitor

Port congestion looms

Ibrahim Tanko

—–as freight Forwarders threaten to go on strike over extortions by shipping companies

Eyewitness

Aggrieved freight forwarders, who are plying their trade at the Lagos ports, have served a notice of withdrawal of their services to protest what they described as unbridled and barefaced extortions and high-handedness by the shipping companies.

In the notice of service withdrawal signed by Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim, the National Coordinator, 100 percent Compliance team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the Customs brokers complained of a litany of operational breaches and extortionist behaviors of the shipping companies.

These include depletion of container deposit refunds, undue debits on equipment detention which brings the Customs brokers into a collision course with their transporters and principals.

” The shipping companies engage in unnecessary extortions of our transporters up to N150, 000 before dropping empty containers which is then passed back to us before returning our container cards.

” We are also being subjected to incessant network issues which lead to inability to raise invoices and transmit TDOs to which we lose not less than N10million per day.

“The shipping companies also engage in deceitful demand of opening of importer account/extortions before releasing invoice.

“We lose N50 million daily to the wilful transfer of containers against the wish, consent or approval of consignees.

“We are also being subjected to illegal transfer charges against the directives of the Nigerian Shippers’Council.

“As a result of their negligence or lack of capacity, the shipping companies foist on us undue equipment detention charges ranging from N200,000 per 1× 40ft and N100,000 per 1×20ft multiplied by 1000 containers”

The freight forwarders have therefore given the shipping companies a two-week ultimatum to address their grievances or face the pains of service disruption.

“Against this background, we wish to notify you that from October 25th,2021 to November 10th, 2021, if these issues raised above are not properly addressed, we will withdraw our services” the customs brokers declared in their letter which they addressed to all the shipping companies and copied to all the government agencies, security agencies, and others stakeholders.

In an ominous voice, the angry freight forwarders warned the predominantly foreign shipping companies not to open their offices at the end of the two-week ultimatum if they fail to heed their demands and address their complaints.

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Freight Monitor

ANLCA breathes again!—–as peace returns to crisis-ridden association

CRFFN emerges as hero of peace accord

The eyewitness reporter

After five years of bitterness, cut-throat rivalry, hatred and political warfare that have turned the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents ANLCA (ANLCA) into a walking ghost, peace has finally returned to the oldest freight forwarding group in Nigeria.

It wasn’t a peace that was gotten on a platter of gold.

The road to the peace accord was littered with uncertainty, suspicion and sabotage.

For five grueling years that the association has been in the wilderness of endless crisis, all efforts to achieve the elusive peace have always hit the rock mounted by recalcitrant gladiators that were factionalized into two rival groups.

But on Wednesday, March 15th, 2023, the Council for the Regulation of Freight forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN) pulled the chestnut out of the fire when it reconciled the two warring factions that held the association, hostage.

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, the CRFFN poured water on the five years of raging fire that fizzled out.

Like the biblical story of how Jesus Christ rebuked the raging storm into quietness, the Chairman of the CRFFN, Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar, rebuked the raging storm in the ANLCA into calmness.

The road to the final peace in ANLCA was long, winding and tortuous after the initial efforts of the police failed.

As the regulatory body of the freight forwarding industry, the CRFFN led by its Chairman mandated the warring parties to convene an AGM where the disputed issues were to be discussed and settled.

That effort too was nearly thwarted as there was opposition to the peace arrangement.

But it took the cast iron resolve and unbending vow of Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar to end the crisis that enable the AGM to hold amidst the threat of boycott from other warring party.

On the day of the AGM, it also took the guts, gritty determination, hardline posture, appeals, stick and carrot approach and subtle threat employed by the CRFFN to pull off this rare feat.

Alhaji Tsanni held a grueling five hours meeting with the leadership of the two factions prior to the AGM proper, an action which led to the late commencement of the AGM.

At the pre-AGM parley with the warring parties, concessions, sacrifices and commitments were made to achieve peace.

Among them were the voluntary stepping down of Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, as the Secretary of one of the factional BOT, and the merger of the two contending and factional BOT groups, Taiwo Afolabi- led group and Taiwo Mustapha -led group with each group donating four members to the new BOT.

Prince Taiye Oyeniyi was compensated with the position of Paron of the association.

Satisfied that the two sides have reached a truce that would usher in the much sought-after peace, the AGM was later convened four hours behind schedule.

However, the CRFFN chairman and the leadership of the two factional groups, who must have parted themselves on the back for a job well done, didn’t bargain for the resistance and antagonism that greeted the peace proposal when presented to the general meeting.

Hell was let loose over the proposed merger of the two warring BOTs.

Members kicked, yelled and resorted to a shouting match to show their displeasure over the merger.

Some even threatened to challenge the peace proposal in court while some proposed total scrapping of the two quarrelsome BOT factional groups to give peace a chance.

The angry members called the legality and constitutionality of the contrived BOT into question, saying such contrived arrangement is alien to the supreme constitution of ANLCA.

The CRFFN chairman and Kayode Farinto, the Acting National President of ANLCA, begged the angry members to give peace a chance by allowing the peace proposal but this seemed to incensed them into a more riotous mood.

Sensing that his efforts and sleepless night to achieve peace in ANLCA were about to be frustrated by the unruly attitude of the angry AGM participants who described him as an outsider who have no right to force the merger arrangement down their throat, Alhaji Tsanni Abubakar braced himself and confronted the situation with toughness and unbending posture of a military General.

With a tough mien, the CRFFN chairman mounted the chair he was seated on to talk to the rowdy and angry AGM participants.

“I am here as a regulator who is like a father to all the associations in the industry.

“If we have to die here, we die here to ensure there is peace.

“You are not doing me any favour if you agree to settle.

“If you don’t agree to settle, I don’t care.

“My concern is how the crisis is affecting me because anytime I go to the customs, they ask me what the problem is with ANLCA and why CRFFN cannot settle it.

“Let me tell you, you are the one assisting them.

“If you think you can operate without a CRFFN certificate, it is a lie.

“I am ready to die here.

“We have to tell ourselves the truth. Nobody can operate without registration with CRFFN.

“So it is better to settle the crisis now”

The chairman of the CRFFN, who was at that point livid with anger, threatened to withdraw the CRFFN certificate issued to ANLCA and shut down its national secretary if they fail to close ranks.

However, Farinto had to intervene for the umpteenth time, begging and appealing to the agitated members.

“Please, please, I beg you in the name of God, let us allow peace.

“The industry is suffering and members of ANLCA are suffering due to this lingering crisis. The government agencies, especially the Customs, are exploiting the crisis to extort and exploit us”

“So it is in our own interest to allow peace to reign “

Farinto said that the contending issue of BOT has become cancerous and a surgical operation is needed.

He admonished his members to allow the contrived BOT to be inaugurated.

“But what we should be concerned about is how to confine the members of the BOT to their supervisory role as enshrined in ANLCA supreme constitution”.

The subtle threat of the CRFFN Chairman and the appeal by the Acting President of ANLCA eventually calmed the frayed nerves of the members and thereafter, the eight-member BOT made up of equal numbers from each factional group, was inaugurated.

The new BOT members include Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha, Dayo Azeez, Sir Ernest Elochukwu, Sir Dennis Okafor, Prince Ozo Chukwura, Alhaji Shamsideen Awopeju, Kingsley Offor and Mr. Eniola Igbaruola.

In the same breath, a seven-member Association Electoral Committee (ASECO) headed by Mr Alloy Anukwuru, was also inaugurated.

The committee was charged to screen and conduct elections into the executive positions(NECOM) in the association at a date to be agreed on at the next follow-up peace meeting in the next two weeks.

Likewise, Prince Taiye Oyeniyi was inaugurated as the new Patron of the association.

These developments thus signaled a new era and the end of five years of an acrimonious atmosphere in ANLCA.

The peace deal, therefore, dealt a death knell to the controversial interim NECOM.

A new era of peace and tranquility that blows a fresh breath of life to an association that was hitherto held hostage and gasping for breath after five years of suffocation.

Freight Monitor

Prince Olayiwola Shittu congratulates Tinubu as President-elect ,makes case for freight forwarders

The eyewitness reporter

Prince Olayiwola Shittu, the erstwhile National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA) has appealed to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to pay special attention to the freight forwarding industry in order to revamp and rescue the otherwise thriving sector from decades of retrogressive policies.

In his congratulatory message to the President-elect, Prince Shittu who is also the Managing Director /Chief Executive officer(CEO) of Skelas Group, enjoined Tinubu to give the operators in the freight forwarding industry the needed encouragement and support to enable them to improve on the revenue collection for the Customs Service.

In the congratulatory letter, he personally signed and a copy of which was sighted by our reporter, the respected Customs broker pledged the loyalty of all the operators in the Customs brokerage industry in particular and the maritime sector in general, to the in-coming administration of the President-elect.

”On behalf of myself and my professional friends and progressive-minded Customs Brokers in the Maritime Industry, I wish to felicitate with you and your Vice President–elect, Kashim Shetimma Mustapha for your victory at the just concluded presidential election, under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress party (APC).

”I consider it a privilege to join hundreds of millions of Nigerians home and abroad, as well as well–wishers in congratulating you on your victory in the 2023 presidential election.

”I am optimistic that at the end of the day, you will bring everybody on board for the huge rebuilding that awaits you.

”Your victory didn’t come on a platter of gold, the discerning knows that in your characteristic manner, you prepared and fought well for it, alongside like-minded progressives through painstaking strategy, commitment and years of political bridge building.

”With your antecedent as an uncommon economic builder combined with your fine leadership acumen, we are hopeful that you will pay more than a passing interest in the maritime economy, which represents a bulwark of the national economy; in view of the changing fortunes of our crude staying economic power.

”As a customs broker, I enjoin you most respectfully to consider giving the freight industry the right encouragement for operators to improve on revenue collection.

”Hitherto, revenue brokers have been left with the feeling that they don’t matter despite being the real revenue collectors in all customs trade.

”As progressive players, revenue collectors can achieve much more if your administration offers them the right encouragement through the remodeling of retrogressive policies and the retooling of the benefits dynamics plus purposeful and mutually responsible stakeholders‘ engagement that has sadly, assumed a master–servant status.

”I am confident that you hold the leadership application to driving our economy and democracy in the right direction, through unwavering commitment.

”The customs brokerage and freight industry look forward to working harmoniously with your administration to raise the bar in revenue generation through a purposeful, mutually beneficial relationship.

”Your Excellency, congratulations once again as we wish you safe and strong; and wish your Administration a resounding success on all fronts”

Freight Monitor

ANLCA sets for historic AGM amidst protest from Mustapha-led factional group

Kayode Farinto, Ag, Pre4sident, ANLCA

—–as Farinto vows no group will be allowed to hold the association down.

The eyewitness reporter

Amidst protest and a possible boycott by the aggrieved members of the Mustapha-led factional group, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is upbeat over its historic Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The association has announced that the AGM, which has once suffered postponement, will now hold on March 15th, 2023 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Briefing the press Monday at the National Secretariat of the association, Kayode Farinto, the Acting National President of ANLCA, said the meeting was at the instance of the Council for the Regulation of Freight forwarding Practice in Nigeria (CRFFN) which decided to intervene in the malignant crisis which has engulfed the association for over four years.

Giving an update on the preparation for the AGM, Farinto declared that over 200 members have so far registered for the event in the ongoing registration exercise that will end on the 13th, March, 2023.

According to him, all intending attendees should submit their licenses for verification to the National Secretariat with the payment of a token sum of N10,000 being the 2023 annual dues.

He however warned that no documentation done outside the secretariat would be eligible for the meeting.

“To comply with the CRFFN letter addressed to me on 10th February 2023, the National Secretary of ANLCA as usual kick-started the process of organizing the AGM as contained in the ANLCA Supreme Constitution.

“But this time around, the NECOM in its magnanimity has to reduce the processes due to the current economic situation in the country and in a bid to carry everybody along.

“For you to attend the 2023 AGM and any ANLCA AGM you must have a License or be a Director of a company Licensed by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and a Corporate member of ANLCA.

” And just pay a token of N10,000 being 2023 Annual Dues. While every other dues and conditions were waived.

“This was agreed to make sure nobody is left out.

“And as I speak with you , over 200 of our members have registered for the 2023 AGM going through the normal process of verification and authentication of any Licensed presented and the position of the company representatives, which must be a Director level in such Company and the process has been going smoothly and is ongoing.

“I want to state here emphatically and to be on record that, anybody that wants to attend the 2023 ANLCA AGM must pass through the normal process as contained in the ANLCA Constitution, no matter your position in ANLCA.

” I have done mine and I expect others to do theirs too.

“Again, for the records too, the database of ANLCA members is domiciled in the National Secretary’s office and anybody that wants to attend the AGM must clear his/ herself in that office.

“I want to state that, anybody that went somewhere to collate licenses without clearing from the National Secretary’s office to authenticate the genuineness or otherwise of such Licenses will not be accepted.

“ANLCA is a constituted association, and we all agreed to follow our constitution and that is sacrosanct”, Farinto declared.

He also said that all the collated licenses would be submitted to Customs for verification before the date of the event.

The ANLCA High chief, who promised that his NECOM will not exceed the April 2023 terminal date by one day, debunked the wild speculation making round that the CRFFN decisions in its ongoing peace efforts were influenced and in deference to the ANLCA members in the council, saying they were neither consulted nor carried along in its decision-making process over the matter.

“It was based on the inability of both the courts and Police to successfully resolve the ANLCA crises that the CRFFN was brought in.

” Mind you, it was not me, Dr. Kayode Farinto Collins nor the NECOM that brought in the Council.

” Rather as I learnt, it was the two BOT heads, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha and Prince Ozo Chukwura, who approached the Council in 2022 to step in to resolve the ANLCA crises based on their Act which provides such intervention.

“I want to also state it clear here that even though some of us from ANLCA are members of the Governing Council of the CRFFN, we were never part of the Committee set up by the Council to resolve the ANLCA crises, nor did we influence their report at any time or induced the Council Chairman to turn the committee report in our favour as being speculated by some mischief makers in the social media.

“So their allegations of the Council turning the report in our favour is baseless, mischievous and cheap propaganda to once again truncate the peace process since it’s not in their favour.

“Again, we are even more at disadvantage, out of our 9 duly elected board members, only 4 will be taken, but for the purpose of peace and for ANLCA to move forward.

” We have appealed to the remaining 5 BOT members to abide by the Council’s decision for peace to reign.

“Let me briefly inform you of the latest CRFFN decision that has called for the slated AGM.

“I received a letter from the Council about three weeks ago, informing me that the CRFFN has decided to intervene and be part of our AGM, after the one we wanted to organize on 2nd February 2023, but was stepped down due to a request from the council.

“In the letter, CRFFN stated that both sides will provide 4 Board members each to attend the AGM, while the 9th member will be elected at the AGM, where both sides will provide a Candidate each.

“The Council in its magnanimity decided to sponsor the AGM.

The Council also fixed the date and venue of the AGM, which was later postponed to the 15th of March due to the 2023 Elections.

” Again, I want to state here, neither the Chairman nor any Council member intimated any of us or sought our opinions before taking their decisions.

” I learnt that it was the agreement of both BOT factions. It is also instructive to state here that, this was purely BOT affairs and neither me nor any member of NECOM could have intruded into their decisions as been speculated by those who are bent on destroying ANLCA” explained Farinto.

He however warned that no group or individuals can hold the entire ANLCA to ransom as the decisions reached at the forthcoming AGM will be binding on all members irrespective of their position and disposition.