Freight Forwarders Stranded In Abuja As Amaechi Abandons CRFFN Inauguration

Widespread indignation and condemnation among freight forwarders greeted the inauguration of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) slated for Abuja Tuesday as elected freight forwarders into the Council are currently stranded in Abuja waiting on the Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.

The board inauguration which was earlier billed to take place on Tuesday morning at 11am was abruptly postponed to 4pm in the evening following the unexplained absence of the transport minister who was said to be in Lagos.

However, the already agitated freight forwarders who arrived Abuja two days ahead of the event were later shocked when the Registrar of the Council, Sir Mike Jukwe once again announced to them around 2pm that the inauguration has been shifted till Wednesday by 4pm in the afternoon.

Some of the freight forwarders who spoke with our correspondent lamented that after spending two days waiting on Amaechi for the inauguration, their businesses were suffering in Lagos.

Recall that Amaechi had earlier abandoned the inauguration for four months after elections were conducted in July and fifteen Council members who were members of five freight forwarding associations emerged.

Speaking on the continuous postponement of the inauguration, some members of the new board who pleaded anonymity expressed fears that the new governing Council was already programmed to fail.

He said “It is a pity that Amaechi had abandoned his core job to be going after politics, while other ministers were busy looking for ways to grow their ministry, he is busy after politics. Tell me, what is he doing in Lagos? And he gathered all of us here!

“We have been here since yesterday afternoon, now it is possible that he might postpone it again tomorrow after the FEC meeting”

“Amaechi is leaving his duty to play politics, how do you expect the sector to move forward? This is not politics, this is his core job”.

When he was approached by our correspondent over the serial postponement of the inauguration, Registrar of CRFFN, Sir Mike Jukwe simply said, “I am only following directives given to me”.