Livingstone Ndukwu (Clearing agent)
Our association has nosedived over the past couple of years and we needed trustworthy people who will bring it back on track, this was the reason for the election we had recently. I seriously believe that the newly elected executives will turn the association around. From the president Prince Olayiwola Shittu down to the P.R.O Obi Cee we believe they will give the association a good image.
However, I am tasking them to go ahead and do what they promised us during their campaign that they will bring back respect to this our profession which has lost its glory and has been bastardised, customs see agents as if they are fools and a bunch of drop outs, all this have to change. Secondly the excesses of the men of the federal operations unit of the customs must be looked into and corrected because they are giving us a lot of headache, when a job has been dully cleared from the port by competent officers; they still go on the highway and seize the container.
Celestine Okafor (Customs agent)
I want them to follow the agenda they have laid down for us during the campaign, since they have been elected now they should not derail from it, I heard they have got a piece of land around Festac in Lagos here, they should try and develop it in order for the association to have a working secretariat We also have a responsibility to perform and that is we should join hands with them to move the association forward, we must give them better hands to work.
Leye Ajayi (MARAN President)
Now that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has a new leader in the person of Prince Olayiwola Shittu, the agents should harmonise their working relationship and be more united. Though five associations are about to be registered by the Council for the Regulation of Fright Forwarding in Nigeria, (CRFFN), I believe they can still speak with one voice. They should arrange a platform where they will all be meeting and reach a consensus on issues and forward such decisions to the government to be transformed into policies. They should learn not to be fraudulent by abiding with principle of true declaration; falsification of documents should become a thing of the past, no more Machine Outside (MO) and they should purge themselves of touts. Agents should come up with standard clearing fees to avoid anomalies. As a professional body, they should make it a point of duty to hold AGM. If all these are put in place, they will be able to forge ahead and the industry will be the better for it.
Abdulakeem Akanji (Mikkol Maritime services)
My expectations from the new executives of this association is that they should reinvigorate ANLCA and bring it back to its former glory, they must carry other agents along in any of their policies, they should bear the agents in mind and remember that they are there to fight for the rights of the common agent in the port, they must not just use the position to fight for their personal jobs alone but they should know that other agents have jobs to clear too.
We have had bad and very selfish leaders in ANLCA in the past which has seriously affected us, Shittu should come in and rebrand the association in order to have its former pride, I know the man is a humble man and my advice to him is to keep being humble and put God first in all decisions so as to succeed. We are optimistic about him because he was formerly a king maker but now that he has come out to the forefront, it means he want things done right.
Chief Tobi Emmanuel (Vice Chair, ANLCA PTML)
The first area I will want them to touch is the FOU that is intercepting goods released by other ports, they have to call them to order, because they are all customs officers and we cannot be paying double taxation, also the CG squad should be controlled because they are not giving us free hand to work, it is necessary to advice the management of the customs that there are morals and professional questions in their operations, they need to educate their officers on matters of best practices and trade facilitation, the new exco should focus attention on that.
Again, the 1% of the duty collected by the agents should be used to make sure the association is moved forward, they should also make sure that they build the association’s secretariat as they have promised, we as elected officials in the chapter are ready to give them a hand in achieving all these.
Ezekiel Ejabukwa (Clearing agent)
One pressing area the newly elected officers should focus attention is how to eradicate the unnecessary charges that are being collected by the terminal operators and shipping companies, the agents are groaning under these high charges, they should find a way to fight it and put a stop to it.
Also if you look at the ports today you will find out that there is heavy traffic jam everywhere, if the new exco of the association can consolidate and work with the newly appointed minister of transport in order to re-construct all the roads leading to the port, expand them and make it more motorable, it will be a landmark achievement for them and I think it will also be better so as to fast-track the clearing of goods out of the ports.
Olayiwola Shittu is a great man whom I personally believe in, he is ready to work and take this association to a great level, the days of crisis in ANLCA are over and with the collaborations from chapter executives and other association members; the sky is just the beginning.
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