NAGAFF urges members to be professionally certified, sets November 2023 as deadline
ZAINAB JUNAID
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has called on its members to at least acquire national minimum Qualification (Diploma) in freight forwarding or face sanctions by November 2023.
Speaking at the association’s 23rd Anniversary banquet held in Lagos on Thursday with the theme “Good Governance- A Road Map to National Development”, the founder of the association, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam stressed the need for freight forwarders to embrace professionalism and be adequately educated in their field. The founder encouraged stakeholders to seek more professional trainings and be certified in freight forwarding.
On good Governance, he said NNPP is a platform to encourage great minds to take up positions in government in order to provide desired results for the country. He also encouraged stakeholders at the event to vote for their conscience in the forthcoming 2023 general elections and avoid any forms of political blackmail. He words, “I want you to support NNPP, don’t promotes any forms of political blackmail, and please endeavor to vote for your conscience in the 2023 general elections.
“NAGAFF at 23 is the first link of what God wants me to do and that has to do with the liberation struggle creating opportunities for the young freight forwarders to be able to do things on their own and have that self-confidence. That is why the NAGAFF Academy is very crucial to the administration of NAGAFF.”
However, the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Barrister Sam Nwakohu, laid more emphasis on the importance of education and certification for all freight forwarders in his speech. According to him, “it has become a mandate by the Council to ensure all practicing freight forwarders got duly registered, certified and professionalized.” He said the Council has decided to deregister any freight forwarder who did not possess national minimum Qualification (Diploma) in Freight Forwarding by the end of 2023. He, thus enjoined the freight forwarders to ensure enrolment for training and get fully-certified before the deadline, to avoid being de-registered or denied a place of practice of freight forwarding in Nigeria. Also speaking, the National President of the Association, Chief Tochukwu Esizi appealed to Nigerian Policy Formulators in the maritime industry to always carry critical stakeholders along in policy Formulations, in order to achieve a desired result at the implementation levels.
He said NAGAFF would maintain it’s regular stakeholders engagement by remaining proactive and dynamic in advocacy campaigns, until the maritime sector cum freight forwarding is enthroned as a leading economic contributor to the treasury. He added that the association shall continue to lead the way by bringing new ideas and innovation into the system, continuously embrace the new and evolving digital technology, maintain and improve new values, standards ethics and professional ethos of the industry. To him, NAGAFF would continue regular stakeholders’ engagement to remain proactive and dynamic in its advocacy campaigns, to ensure that the maritime industry through freight forwarding gets fully-recognised as a leading economic contributor. The Gubernatorial candidate of LabourPaty (LP), Lagos State, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour on his part used the medium to address stakeholders present at the event stating that the maritime industry is an extremely important sector of Lagos State that must run efficiently and expressed worries over traffic situations within the port in Apapa Lagos Rhodes-Vivour later promised to ensure all problems are tackled through adequate provision of multi modal transport system, and proper call up system, if elected.
