One of the contestants in the forthcoming national elections of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Kayode Oyinlola has boasted that he is sure of defeating his opponent, Dr. Kayode Farinto to emerge as Vice President of the association.
Oyinlola in a chat with Shipping Position Daily at the ANLCA National Secretariat in Lagos last week revealed that his decision to contest in the elections was influenced by the Oodua Maritime Forum, a pressure group within ANLCA. He said that his candidacy is championed by the Oodua group.
Oyinlola described himself as ‘more experienced’ for the position of Vice Presidency of ANLCA and boasted that, defeating Farinto, who is the National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA is not new to him as he had floored him once at the Tin Can Island Port Chapter to emerge as Chairman.
“If you say I am coming out against somebody that have contested against me at Tin Can before, I have defeated him at Tin Can and I know I will defeat him again in the national elections, I am very confident of it”
“I am very confident that my candidacy for Vice President of ANLCA is something I would say, came from the Oodua people and not from myself, and I have decided to take it up because I know I can do it”
“The Vice president position in ANLCA should be occupied by persons with experience and with my experience within the association, I know I can handle the post very well, I have been an interim chairman at Tin Can port for six months in 2002 and being an elected chairman for two terms at Tin Can port”, he said.
Shipping Position Daily gathered however that high level politicking and lobbying has already began within the association. Reliable sources within the association confirmed to our correspondent that the National Publicity Secretary, Kayode Farinto, already has all the Public Relations Officers of the chapters of ANLCA working for him.
In the same vein, Prince Oyinlola is said to enjoy much support from all the chairmen in the Western Zone. After his tenure at Tin Can Chapter, Oyinlola had instated his preferred candidate, Prince Segun Oduntan, current Chairman of Tin Can chapter of ANLCA against Ojo Akintoye, a candidate who was reportedly fielded by Farinto in 2016.
While speaking on operations of Nigeria Customs Service, Prince Oyinlola noted that the N1.2trillion target of the customs for 2018 is achievable. He charged the government to review the foreign exchange policy, noting that would further encourage importers to bring in more cargoes. According to him, this automatically translates into more revenue for customs.
“Customs target is realizable because importation has improved. It is not customs officers that are bringing in goods, it is the importers, and it is the exchange rate that determines what they bring.
The year is still young but I believe if the government can improve on the exchange rate it means more revenue for customs”
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