ACFFT brainstorm, calls for unity of purpose to curtail incessant activities at Port
ZAINAB JUNAID
Association of Concerned Freight Forwarders and Transporters
(ACFFT) has urged members to form coalition and avoid bickering at each other in
order to jointly resolve the ongoing incessant activities at Port Corridors.
The group which consist of Transport Owners, Freight
forwarders, Association of Road Transport, among others affirmed that fighting a common
cause will help jeopardize any hindrance of doing business easily at the
Ports.
To them, "Injury to one is injury to all, for there is
strength in unity. When they fight for a common interest and avoid fighting
each other unnecessarily, the goal for their alliance will be achieved."
Speaking at a meeting jointly held on Thursday, November 29,2023, in Lagos, the group maintained that individual self interest aided the current systemic failure experienced at the port.
“Our inability to come together and fight for a common cause
aided the systemic failure we are experiencing. With our various capacity and
responsibilities, if we jointly refused to clear cargo, transporters will not
have anything to convey within and outside the Port, the aftermath will be a
massive congestion which will force government to intervene, address and yield
to our call and also find a way to resolve the congestion problem. By doing
this, we will not be frustrated out of business,” they said.
They see other problems such as security issues, loading charges,
holding bay, customs increments, terminal operators, among other problems which confront
them as secondary but resolved that united they stand divided they fall.
Speaking further, they called on government to regulate
unions and associations as there are lots of irregularities emanating from the
so called groups which affects the system.
“It is when we jointly achieve this that we can then ask of
basic necessity to facilitate our business."
In their words, “It is a
well known fact that since the concessioning of the Port, the operators have
incessantly extort us, business has not been favourable but when we
jointly fight this cause we will achieve a desirable results.
"There are regulatory factors, maintenance fee, problem that
is facing us now- the cost of diesel has skyrocketed. Between Abia and
Maiduguri, someone posted on instablog that about three million naira and above
is being charged, how do we resolve this. There is the issue of operational factors, that we
faced too, we need to check our foundation problem too, let’s work together to
achieve a common goal.
“We need to have a strong synergy so that we can resolve our
issues, just as we did with MWUN, NATO, NAPTOP recently to achieve a common
goal, we need to move along with the world that evolves and changes daily. We
need to stand for each other. Let freight forwarders stand for truckers
especially when customs seized their trucks. There was a case of a truck owner
whose three trucks were auctioned for carrying illegal goods which he was not
privy of. What if he did not have other means of survival, what would have
happened to him. So there is need for us to strengthen our collaboration and stand
for each other in order to achieve a common goal,” they maintained.
