A leading online media, Cornerstonenewsng.com has honoured the founder of, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, with an award for “Man of the Year in Freight Forwarding.
Aniebonam, known for his sincerity and hard work in the handling of the activities of NAGAFF was commended for his principled and passionate ideology in the Freight Forwarders sector which stands him out amongst his counterparts.
In an Award ceremony held at the NAGAFF headquarters in Lagos, Connerstonenewsng.com Consultant, Comrade Christopher Oji, presenting the Award to Boniface on behalf of Cornerstone, described the recipient as a man of reputable character whose antecedents has garnered wide commendation and recommendation both within and outside the country.
The former president of the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN), stated, “We present this award to you for your kindness, for your goodness, philanthropy, and for your contributions to the community and to Nigeria as a whole”.
Receiving the award, Dr. Aniebonam, expressed great appreciation to the organizers of the event for the honour.
He, however, expressed deep dissatisfaction with the pace of growth in the maritime sector.
Reminiscing over his three decades of sojourn in the sector, Aniebonam opined that the industry is really growing at a discouraging speed and deserves better policies that would reposition it to be able to compete favorably with the best in the world.
He said:
“I thought that we should have grown beyond what we are now. First, look at the port environment, it doesn’t make any sense. The gateway of the nation’s economy, you cannot access it, yet time is money”.
On the newly introduced reduction of duties on imported vehicles, Aniebonam advised the Federal Government to put a check to incessant importation of sub-standard or rickety vehicles into the country by increasing the import duties on old vehicles to discourage bringing in “junks into Nigeria”.
He stated:“When a car is very old, the rate of duty should be high. In other words, you discourage bringing in junks into Nigeria. You use tariff rate to control the economy, the newer a vehicle is, the lower rate of duty”.
Dr. Aniebonam further expressed his utmost displeasure over the continuous closure of strategic borders in the country describing it as insensitive.
He said:“
There is nothing wrong to shut down a border looking at section 19 of the customs law, and when you have intelligence information, but when you shut down your borders for one year, then something is wrong”.
He called for intervention from the ECOWAS and advised the Nigerian government to address pending issues even with neigbouring countries to facilitate the reopening of the borders.
He advised the FG to provide an enabling environment for investors to thrive so as to create employment for the jobless youths are roaming the streets and are ready to explode at any slightest provocation.
” It is an incontestable fact that the government alone can’t provide employment for the youths. It is businessmen that will create employment for them, but they need an enabling environment to create the jobs. The government should also tackle the problem of insecurity “.
