SHITTU: A Biography in Controversy as NAGAFF Spits Fire

Tayo Oladipupo |

Just few days in public domain, the book, title: SHITTU, that chronicles the life history of the former president of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, has courted controversy. The bone of contention is the birth of Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and a reference to the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), as a mushroom association.

The book, according to NAGAFF, distorted the fact about the birth of CRFFN as the sole effort of only ANLCA while other mushroom associations like NAGAFF contributed less or nothing to the formation of the CRFFN.

Frowning at being described as a mushroom association, NAGAFF, in a statement signed by Rev. Emma Agubanze, Head of Special Duty, NAGAFF Headquarters, noted that the contents of the book were grossly misleading and cautiously crafted to misrepresent the actual facts in the birth of the CRFFN and wondered if Prince Olayiwola Shittu had taken time to read the manuscript before it was published.

According to NAGAFF, ‘’The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, (NAGAFF) after carefully leafing through the pages of the recently launched book with the above title on Prince Olayiwola Shittu on his 68th birthday, sees the contents of the publication as grossly misleading and cautiously crafted to misrepresent the actual facts in the birth of the CRFFN and other incidentals.

‘’What should readily come to the mind of every freight forwarder who is well acquainted with the true history of the birth of the CRFFN is whether Prince Shittu actually found time to go through the manuscript before publishing it. For Prince Shittu to have been quoted as referring to NAGAFF in his book as a mushroom association is most disheartening, disrespectful, uncivilized and a high point of irresponsibility.’’

In pertinence, NAGAFF begged God to forgive Shittu over his display of ignorance and avoidable impunity, noting that it had been in the vanguard of professionalism in the industry before the CRFFN came to life and which ANLCA never did.

‘’NAGAFF as a professional association duly registered and accredited by the CRFFN and with the class of knowledgeable and qualified membership and spread across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria can only but put Shittu to prayers for God’s forgiveness over his display of ignorance and avoidable impunity.

‘’NAGAFF, before the birth of CRFFN, has been in the vanguard of public advocacy for professionalism in the Freight Forwarding business and still remains the foremost umbrella body of Freight forwarders in Nigeria. A clear testimony to this fact was the recent election into the governing board of the CRFFN where NAGAFF, instead of insisting on sweeping the 15 elective positions into the Council, showed maturity by advocating for an all-inclusive Council, in order to accommodate the other four (4) registered Associations of CRFFN including ANLCA,’’ NAGAFF stated.

The association therefore banned its members from buying the book and maintained that the book should be consigned into the dustbin of history while noting that the real history of CRFFN will come to the fore in the soon-to-be-published biography of its founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam.

‘’Based on the forgoing, the NAGAFF high command hereby directs that no member of NAGAFF and Freight Forwarders in general should have any business with the said book and should consign it to the dustbin of history because it is not only misleading but fatally blackmailing,’’ said NAGAFF.