By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has appealed to the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS Adewale Adeniyi, to intervene in facilitating the release of eight auctioned buses allocated to its academy despite payment and completion of the necessary processing for their release.

The founder of NAGAFF, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, made the plea while expressing concern over the association’s inability to take possession of the vehicles meant to support the movement and training of students at the NAGAFF academy.

He said NAGAFF had applied for 41 vehicles, covering different brands, but was allocated only eight, which the association accepted and paid for in the interest of its students.
According to him: “The buses have remained at the port despite the completion of payment and processing; we applied for 41 vehicles, cutting across Chapters, Kebbi, Sokoto and all others. “We were given eight, which we paid for and processed, on getting to the port, we could not get one.”

Aniebonam described the situation as “double jeopardy”, saying the association had committed funds to the vehicles but is yet to take possession of them. “Right now, we have paid and our money is stuck. If we knew, we wouldn’t have applied,” he said.

He said that the buses were not intended for the personal use of NAGAFF members, but to provide transportation for students of the academy as well as support logistics, teaching aids and movement of lecturers from the training school.

He appealed to the Comptroller-General of Customs to intervene, saying the matter should not affect the cordial relationship between NAGAFF and the Customs Service. “NAGAFF and Customs are very close, responsible partners.
However, we decided to make this one open to help us check it,” he said.
At the time of filing this report, Vanguard reached out to the National Public Relations Officer of the NCS, via WhatSapp message, which he read but never responded