Okechukwu Vincent (Council of Managing Directors)
Okechukwu Vincent (Council of Managing Directors)
It depends on what you mean by fairness, as far as I am concerned, the CG is only fair to ANLCA; in fact ANLCA is Customs and Customs is ANLCA. Customs has succeeded in using ANLCA the way it wanted, but that is to the detriment of the freight forwarding profession and the clearing and forwarding industry as a whole, we shall feel the impact of all these in years to come, leadership is not about personal gain and interest, but its legacy left for generations coming after you, in this regard, the leadership of ANLCA has not achieved anything. Customs is relating fairly with NAGAFF, but with AREFFN, National Council and others, they have their past antecedent that tore them apart. For example, right from Seme, AREFFN have been having that problem with Customs, but I do not think that we should dwell on personality, we should dwell on issues, therefore if AREFFN comes up with issues that is cogent, Customs shouldn’t mind the personality behind the association and deny them their right, they should listen to them and solve the problem, that is how the industry will grow, they shouldn’t say this one didn’t come from either Shittu or Aniebonam so you can’t handle; it that is not right, it is bad.
Charles Ubah (ANLCA, Tin Can Chapter)
ANLCA members are custom brokers, we are not freight forwarders, ANLCA is licensed by Customs and NAGAFF is more of a part of freight forwarding chain, this means that after doing business with Customs you will now leave them in the distribution chain, we are not the same, so why the complaints? It is when you are licensed by a particular organization that they will be in the best position to give you all the opportunity that you need, they are the ones who licensed you and they reprimand you when the need arises; mind you, if you are licensed by Customs you must be a member of ANLCA, whoever is crying foul should go and get a license and join the real association.
David Kanikwu Chucks (Secretary, Tin Can ANLCA)
ANLCA is an association of licensed customs agents, I don’t know where the issue of not being fair is coming from, if you are in freight forwarding, go to the ministry of transport and talk about how to get your training. AREFFN is a group of registered freight forwarders, NAGAFF is a government approved freight forwarders body, and also Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agent came out of ANLCA, circumstances brought it and the issues that led to its creation have been resolved, but some people held on to it as an association, it was supposed to be an advisory body where we all go to sort our issues. Anyone that has a license in these other associations should come to ANLCA with their license, nobody stops them from being a member and enjoy the largesse that customs is giving out, but it is because they wanted an empire for themselves, majority of the people in these associations do not have licenses, if Customs make ANLCA secretariat a training centre for licensed customs agents and you have a license, you can submit yourself for training there, so whatever customs is assumed to be doing for ANLCA is being done for all licensed customs agents, so I don't see how customs has not been fair to them.
Mr Lucky Amiwero (President, NCMDLCA)
The people who are related to our own association are the Ministry of Finance because they are people who can form up a consultative team, the Shipper's Council, Trade and Investment and the Presidency, so the Nigeria Customs are just to implement the government's policy, the relationship you have with custom's is just to implement their policy properly. I don't think we have any issue with the customs on how they treat associations, because Customs can not change any policy, so when you are talking about relating with Customs, I don't know the area of relationship that you are talking about. I am not a licensed custom association, but a licensed customs agent and the relationship with the association should not be political, but what Customs are doing now shows that they are now a political organization, they should standardize themselves in other to implement government policies fairly and transparently.
Increase Uche (Secretary General, NAGAFF)
Although Customs are critical to our operation as freight forwarders in the port, freight forwarding business doesn't end in the port neither does it start from the port. I think the aspect of my job that concerns the Customs is very empirical, so whether Customs is fair or not doesn't really matter, what we would advice them to do is to make sure that they carry out their functions as required by law. I won't say Customs should compromise in their daily task, but to me as a freight forwarder, the people who are directly responsible for my daily activities is the CRFFN and the ministry of transport, so these are the people I need to access if they are really fair in their dealings with all freight forwarding associations.
Simeon Nwonu (PRO, NAGAFF)
The issue of unfairness is very clear, when you look at the level of hob-nobing from Customs high command and ANLCA for instance, you will see that the same kind of partnership doesn't exist in clear terms between Customs and other associations like NAGAFF. Take for example, there is the saying that "he who pays the piper dictates the tune" and the relationship between ANLCA and Customs is very obvious, instances abound that even NAGAFF out of its own position faced several challenges. So, if customs is giving any form of financial assistance to one association or the other, they should forget about applying the principle of divide and rule because in this situation it doesn't help the maritime industry to grow. When you are dividing an association, you are not building it but you are destroying it, what I have to say is that Customs should see all associations as one.
Comrade Pius David (Port Activist)
In the customs book, I think ANLCA is mostly recognized among all the freight forwarding associations, but there is need for the service to extend the same relationship to others, irrespective of size and strength. In my own opinion, I think because of the fact that they are licensed customs brokers gave them the edge above others, but all other associations also contributes to government revenue collection. This again, are part of the reasons a group in the freight forwarding circle is calling for the amalgamation of CRFFN and CEMA because it is glaring that ANLCA is benefiting the most.
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