There is no doubt that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) holds the enviable record of being the only freight forwarding association that is truly democratized. Since its rejuvenation, with Alhaji Sani Kamba emerging as national president, ANLCA has endeavoured to hold elections into all its chapters, the two zones and of course, the national executive council.
There is no doubt that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) holds the enviable record of being the only freight forwarding association that is truly democratized. Since its rejuvenation, with Alhaji Sani Kamba emerging as national president, ANLCA has endeavoured to hold elections into all its chapters, the two zones and of course, the national executive council.
While other associations can only boast of one (or at most two) president in almost all their years of existence, ANLCA has had about six; this is not an insignificant democratic credential.
So, last week’s election into the nine chapters in the western zone of the association is in line with the association’s tradition and constitution; a similar one having been held at the eastern zone of the association last year.
So why did the western zone elections enjoy so much hype and attention?The answer is obvious, the zone controls more than 70 percent of shipping (including air freighting) activities in Nigeria, it houses two premier entry points into the country- the Apapa port and Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The two ports also domicile the two most dominant chapters of ANLCA- Apapa port chapter and MMIA chapter.
Apart from these, the western zone also hosts the nation’s busiest land border; the Seme border, which also has a chapter of ANLCA. In between these, we also have the equally important Tin Can Island port, and of course, the Idiroko border.
For these reasons, the western zone elections must surely attract attention, since it come only once in three years.
For those who followed the 2009 elections, the 2013 elections was way ahead of it. Kudos for this must be given to the chairman of the association’s electoral committee; Alhaji Mukaila Babatunde, who ensured that his committee lived above board, and who also introduced topnotch procedures that ensured transparency, fairness and credibility of the process.
The ANLCA constitution which also entrusts responsibility of the elections on the association’s Board of Trustees is a well thought-out provision, this insulates the process from possible interference from sitting executives.
Having said that, the electoral committee did what would have impugned on the credibility of the process, by banning sitting executives in some chapters on election day; in fact a few hours to the elections. They were reportedly barred from contesting for failing to pay accruable dues to the association’s national secretariat. In the case of Tin Can chapter, all the executives who had campaigned for months were disqualified. In the end, elections into the chapter were postponed.
Similarly, results for KLT were disputed, leading to their cancellation. In Lilypond chapter, there was no election as the only candidate and former secretary, Chief Lawrence Uba, was disqualified, albeit for reasons bordering on financial commitments to the national body.
For the purpose of future elections, ANLCA, through its electoral committee (ASECO) will need to device means of ensuring that its chapter executives meet their financial obligations to the national body before the election day. The embarrassing situation where one of the sitting chairmen brought money to the voting centre to upset his chapter’s indebtedness to the national secretariat is totally a dark spot on the well-planned elections.
Because the issue of non-remittance to the national secretariat is a recurring decimal in the association, the incumbent leadership will need to device another means of holding the new executives accountable and responsible.
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