A frontline member of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr Humphrey Okwuosa, has declared that no member of the association is yet qualified or fit enough to wear the shoes of the founder and sitting National President of the association, Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero.
This is even Okwuosa who is also the Apapa Chapter Secretary of the association posited that it is one body with no factions.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the emergence of the Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents is traceable to the controversies that trailed the infamous non-Import Duty Report (IDR) scam of 1995, which later led to the mass loss of licenses of customs agents who were, at that time, all members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), the only association which was in existence.
With the Federal Government-induced probe of loss of revenue in the non-IDR scam and the subsequent crisis, the Council of Managing Directors (as it is commonly called) then became the rallying point for all licensed customs agents who desperately needed a platform and were getting agitated by the perceived failure of the then-Alhaji Sani Kamba-led ANLCA to meet their emerging needs.
In 1996, Mr Lucky Amiwero founded the NCMDLCA, which consequently became a force to reckon with among stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector. However, a crisis began to rock the association in 2009 after an orchestrated removal of Mr Amiwero, who had refused to relinquish the position of National President since the association was formed. The actors were classified as non-members of the association by Mr Amiwero. The Council of Managing Directors has been fractioned into two since.
However, speaking with our correspondent in an exclusive interview last week, the Apapa Chapter Secretary of NCMDLCA, Humphrey Okwuosa debunked allegations of the association having a splitter group. He stressed that there is no division in the association, even as he stated that no one is contesting the presidency of Mr Lucky Amiwero.
Reacting to insinuations that Amiwero has refused to relinquish his position as the National President for over 27 years, Okwuosa stressed that Amiwero is not a dictator, but a democratic president. He maintained that the association is yet to find someone who is capable of defending the association and filling the shoes of Mr Amiwero.
The Apapa Chapter Scribe informed that Amiwero who is in his 70s, is ready to relinquish the position of the National President of the association, but members of the association are begging him to continue because they are still under his tutelage and have not become strong and experienced enough to take over his position.
In his words: “For now, the National Council is one body. We don’t have any other President than Lucky Amiwero. We don’t have any other chapter other than the chapters instituted by him. There is no division or faction in the National Council. Whoever says that is lying. We may have factions in ANLCA or other sister associations, but in National Council, there is none. Nobody is contesting the Presidency of Mr Lucky Amiwero”.
Speaking further on the virtues of Mr Amiwero, he said: the “National Council under Lucky Amiwero is the only association that has affected policies. He has functioned in over 40 committees and several presidential committees, changing policies. He is the one who introduced valuation in Nigeria. So, we don’t have any faction in the National Council. Other associations might, but not in the National Council”.
Affirming the democratic qualities of the Amiwero, the chapter secretary added: “To the best of my knowledge, Lucky Amiwero is a democratic president. Nobody is contesting the presidency with him. If tomorrow he sees any person that is capable of defending the ideals of the National Council, he will hand over to him. He has said many times that he wants to leave. We are the ones begging him”.
“He has contributed immensely to the country. Anywhere you hear National Council, it is Lucky Amiwero. He is known in the Presidency, Senate, House of Representatives, and anywhere. He is not autocratic. He is not a dictator; he is not”, he stated.
