Onyemelukwe hails freight forwarders
By TOKUNBO OLOKE
Thursday, May 1 , 2008

The Nigerian Maritime Industry has recorded another success expected to bring more positive effect to the freight forwarding profession in the country. For the first time in the history of the maritime industry, Chairmen to run the affairs of the Council for the Regulation of Freight forwarding in Nigeria were elected. The keenly contested election took place at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

Speaking shortly after the election one of the contestants who came second among six candidates required in the Western Maritime Zone, Dr Sam Chidinma Onyemelukwe talked on how the election was conducted without disturbance thereby advising Nigerian Political parties to borrow a leaf from the freight forwarders in their future elections.

About the election
The election ended in the early hours of Friday. It was keenly contested for and it was free and fair. Let me be honest with you, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) really tried their best in the conduct of the election. Imagine, from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was the returning Officer while Transparency International, Transition Monitoring Group, Customs representatives and INEC served as observers.

Most contestants accepted defeat after the election but some threatened to go to court for redress. At this juncture, I will like to commend the courage of Chief Aniebonam, one of the contestants who started congratulating the winners immediately after the election. I cherish his spirit of sportsmanship.

Functions/composition of the council
It is to regulate freight forwarding in the country. So, now that the council is in place, government will now come out with its nominees. Six nominees to be appointed by the minister to represent the six geo-political zones of the federation in rotation for two years at a time, no two of whom shall be indigenes of the same state. Also two persons to be appointed by the Minister to represent institutions of Higher learning offering courses in International trade and transport and other related courses.

There must be a representative for the following establishment in the council, federal ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, Education, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

What council stands to achieve
It is a right development that government came out with this regulating council at the time we are contending with multiplicity of freight forwarding associations which are working against one and another. With this creation, therefore, it will take care of those past practices. So, the creation of the council is indeed a welcome development. Although, the creation of the council is one and another thing is to elect experienced people. My belief is that when you have the right people in place, then, you will start to see changes in the next six months.

Advantage of the council
Let me tell you, it has numerous advantages, but the salient ones are that it is going to be beneficial to both the government and larger society. With a code of conduct in place now, freight forwarding profession will no longer be an all comers affair because the council is to create direction for the freight forwarders

My candid advice
My advice personally is that the election has come and gone and I will say that there is no victor, no vanquished. All hands must be on deck to move the industry forward. Nobody should sit on the fence.
The council will run an all-inclusive government that will accommodate all practitioners. That you lost today does not mean you can not win tomorrow, because, before you the tenure will be over and another election will be conducted, so it should not be a do or die affairs.