Freight forwarders pledge support for Fed Govt’s reforms

Freight forwarders have hailed the economic reform agenda of President Bola Tinubu as captured in the Renewed Hope Agenda.

They also commended ongoing transformation in the aviation sector led by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barr Festus Keyamo (SAN) and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku.

The freight forwarders, acting under the aegis of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Murtala Muhmmad International Airport chapter, spoke against the background of the recent issues they have with charges at the airport.

Chairman of the chapter, Temitope Akindele, in a note, said the agents commend the giant strides of the economic reforms of Mr President that have elicited the attention of the international community and had become a reference point for other countries.

He said while the association has been supporting the government’s reforms, it shall continue to do so because the reforms are yielding tangible results. He however said there is need for synergy and understanding among the stakeholders in the sector for maximum result.

Giving a background to the issue of multiple charges which the group is kicking against, he said: “It all started in year 2005, when Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) suddenly came and demolish our secretariat, our monument of peace, a structure we built with about N150 million. FAAN demolished our secretariat that took us six years to raise money to build without prior notice.  After the demolition, we roamed round for about five years without a shelter under which we could do business and contribute to the economy.”

He said before the demolition, agents were paying N2 per kilo, adding that in 2010, FAAN came up again that they want to make an increment to N7 per kilo but we did not agree to that because the secretariat that was pushed down, nothing had been done to it.

“We told FAAN that if there will be an increment, it must give us a site where we can build another structure. In that very 2010, we had 17 meetings we had with all the stakeholders, and FAAN agreed to give us a site on which we built our secretariat now and we have been paying the N7 per kilo since then.

“Ordinarily, the money we are paying, to us, we see it as illegal because FAAN has sold its statutory rights to the cargo handlers, and the cargo handlers are SAHCOL and NAHCO, the two cargo handlers that are at the airport. NAHCO collects money on behalf of FAAN and so does SAHCOL. They collect N25 per kilo, each, and remit it to FAAN. Number two, airlines also collect N5 per kilo, and remit to FAAN.

“Now, FAAN will come to us again to collect money. We see this as multiple charges, but even at that, we didn’t care. Now, FAAN came up again this year and increased the charges from N7 to N20, almost 200 per cent. FAAN didn’t tell us before the increment. We wrote a series of letters to FAAN seeking audience but FAAN ignored us,” he said.

Akindele said the FAAN Act 2022, which has about nine parts made provisions for the involvement of stakeholders in the management of the facility.

He said the Act did not make provision for multiple charges, adding that it made provision for FAAN to provide operational base for stakeholders.

While acknowledging the power of FAAN to impose charges, he said such an action should involve stakeholders.

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He said: “What we are saying is that, FAAN should call us for a meeting. Ordinarily, inside the Act 2022, it was specifically mentioned there that if anything should happen, they should engage the stakeholders.

“And who are the stakeholders? We are three. Number one is the freight forwarders. Number two is the cargo handler. And number three is the airlines because they are the ones collecting money on behalf FAAN.

“We are now appealing to Honourable Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo (SAN) to intervene because he built his reputation as a human rights lawyer fighting for equity and justice. Let him give us an opportunity to state our case. We have been supporting the New Hope Agenda of Mr. President and we shall continue to support to support him because we are seeing the dividends of the president’s reforms.”