Mr. Ibrahim Tanko Coordinator, NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Vice Chairman of the Western zone of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and the man who is also the Coordinator of the NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team, Mr. Ibrahim Tanko, a tenacious advocate with the attitude of a tiger when it comes to the subject of asking people to play by the rules. He has been carrying his crusade of sensitizing people to the principles of honest declaration of cargoes, the proper valuation of goods by the Customs, the proper payment of the properly valued goods by freight forwarders and the timely conveyance of same to the designated place or destination.
In a chat with some journalists, Mr. Tanko was asked what he is bringing to the table as it was reported that he is the first on the list of NAGAFF members to be sponsored in the election into the board of the Council for the Registration of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN) with the astounding amount of One Hundred Million Naira (#100,000,000.00) already raised to prosecute the election.
He began by saying that every freight forwarder has the legitimate right to vie for any position at the Council in so far as you are properly and legitimately licensed. He said that what has happened with the performance of the last board is not satisfying and he is not very impressed, thus his desire to go into the Council to make a difference. Their performance has not been anything to write home about and so as a group, NAGAFF has spoken with one voice to bring out people who will go to the Council and bring in a fresh breath of air into the ailing Council, so to speak.
I can even go on ahead to say that this board fought against the interest of freight forwarders as it were because, I can remember that there was a time when we were at loggerheads with the operators of the bonded terminals over excessive charges and that it was this same board that went to say that we had no right to fight against that particular exploitation. It appeals to reason to say that if someone goes out to protest, there must have been something agitating his mind and so we did embark on that protest, but it did not go down well with them then, but we could not carry on with because of issue of miscreants highjacking it for personal reasons
Mr. Tanko went on to say that he thinks that it is high time he moves into the forefront in order that those issues that they have been trying unsuccessfully to handle in the past may be brought to the front burner. “I had already picked my form for the election”. He said.
On the reported matter that NAGAFF has already raised at least a Hundred Million Naira (#100,000,000.00) for the purpose of the election, Mr. Tanko answered that as far he is concerned, they are ready to spend even more than the stated sum to prosecute the election.
On what he thinks that NAGAFF members’ chances are to come out successfully in the election, he said that ” Simple research will show you that NAGAFF has about 80% of the registered members of freight forwarding family in Nigeria and that with that figure, the election will swing in their favour. “Whether we are asked to vote individually or as corporate bodies, we are very much ready for the election. You also know that the CRFFN is a baby of NAGAFF, it was conceived by Dr. Aniebonam, of course I am sure that you are aware of that”.
“I have not been impressed at all with the performance of the out going board and my colleagues at NAGAFF feel the same way, hence our desire to go into the Council and do what will benefit us all as stakeholders”. He concluded.
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