The National Publicity Secretary of the association, Stanley Ezenga, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He was reacting to Tuesday’s directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt allocation of foreign exchange for food imports.

Buhari, who gave the directive while hosting some governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his hometown, Daura, Katsina State, said the directive was to achieve steady increase in agricultural production.

He said apart from helping to promote food sufficiency, the step was also to conserve foreign exchange for use to diversify the economy.

Ezenga said the directive, if well carried out, would help promote food sufficiency, conserve scarce foreign exchange and ultimately help to grow the economy.

He, however, urged the Federal Government to give details about the food items that were affected by the ban, warning that a blanket ban would hurt the economy.

“The ban will no doubt help the economy in terms of improving our balance of trade and conservation of foreign reserves.

“But then, a blanket ban would have a great impact at this moment, considering the conflicts between farmers and herders lately which have threatened access to food items for industrial use.

“Therefore, the question to ask is, what categories of food items are affected by the ban?

“The government did not give details and stakeholders are at a loss. We need clarification so that we can be guided as critical stakeholders in international trade. As it is now, everything is sketchy,” he said.

On how the ban would affect freight forwarders, Ezenga said the ban would naturally reduce volume of cargo at the ports, meaning less business for freight forwarders.

He, however, said the economic interest of the country was more important, saying the interests of freight forwarders should be secondary to those of the country.

“Yes, the volume of cargo would be reduced by the ban and our people would have less jobs but that is not a problem so long it favours the economy.

“We as freight forwarders live in the economy and if the economy is growing we are happy. It is not about our short-term interests, it is about the country. We only hope the restriction would be done in such a way that the desired objectives are achieved,’’ he said.

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NAGAFF`s National Publicity Secretary, Stanley Ezenga, said on Thursday that the senate should rather engage Ali on issues based on performance rather than uniform that had no impact on efficient service delivery in the customs.

He said the customs boss was not a career customs personnel and compelling him to wear the uniform did not seem the right thing to do.

“We at NAGAFF are not in support of the call for the sack or resignation of the Comptroller-General of Customs by the Senate over his refusal to appear before it in full customs uniform.

“Our position is based on the fact that the issue has nothing to do with service delivery and that he is not compelled by any rule or law to do so as he is not a career customs officer.

“Rather than delving so much on the issue of uniform wearing, we urge the senate to criticise the CG on issues of performance and other things that could make the customs deliver on their mandate.

“We appeal to the Senate to spare us all this uniform drama and focus on better issues that could deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians,’’ he said.

The senate had called for the resignation of the Comptroller-General following his refusal to appear before the upper house on Wednesday in his Customs uniform.

The senate had said Ali was not fit to occupy the office for not heeding the directive to wear uniform and that he was sending a wrong message to career custom officers by his refusal to do so.

The upper chamber had earlier turned back the Comptroller-General on March 16 for not appearing in uniform and rescheduled his appearance for Wednesday.

Ali said his refusal to wear the uniform was hinged on the fact that he had been sued on the issue and he was awaiting the outcome of the litigation.

He also cited an advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation as a reason for his decision.

The senate had first invited Ali to appear before it on March 8 to brief it on the proposed policy for payment of Customs Duty by vehicles owners, no matter the age of the vehicle.

However, Ali did not honour the invitation on the ground that he had a management meeting.

Not satisfied with the reason, the senate had issued a warrant mandating Ali to appear on March 16.

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Stanley Ezenga, National Publicity Secretary of the association, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the 13 per cent appreciation of the naira following the Feb. 20 CBN intervention was good news for the economy.

“Last week, we saw the naira appreciate to N445 from N520 against the US dollar following a new intervention by the CBN as laudable.

“NAGAFF sees the intervention, which include increased forex access to end users by supplying more dollars to banks and directing them to open sales outlets in major international airports, among others, as good steps.

“This is really great news and we at NAGAFF believe the apex bank deserves a pat on the back for this great work.

“However, we urge the bank to introduce more measures that will further strengthen the country`s currency,” the NAGAFF spokesman said.

He expressed doubts at suggestions that lifting forex ban on the importation of some 41 items would help the naira.

“What I am sure is the solution to this forex problem is to increase exports as a nation: If we export more and consume more of locally-made products, it will help a great deal.

“If you look at it critically, those 41 items on forex ban by the government are items with local alternatives or items that can be produced locally, if we get our strategies right.

“So, we at NAGAFF do not think Nigeria has to import everything to survive as a country,” Ezenga said.

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