Mr Kayode Farinto Collins is not a neonate in the Nigerian maritime industry; he is the incumbent chairman of the Tincan Island Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). He is also seeking for a second term in office in the coming elections of the association. Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni tracked him down recently and he talked about the challenges of his first term in office as well as alleged plans to deny him the much-desired second term.
Mr Kayode Farinto Collins is not a neonate in the Nigerian maritime industry; he is the incumbent chairman of the Tincan Island Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). He is also seeking for a second term in office in the coming elections of the association. Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni tracked him down recently and he talked about the challenges of his first term in office as well as alleged plans to deny him the much-desired second term.
How will you describe your first term as chairman of Tincan port?
We have been able to achieve some of our agenda, while some are still in the pipeline, for example we promised that the port access roads must be tarred and this has been done, also, the congestion we normally witness at car park ‘C’ is no longer there, the level of compliance of licensed customs agents has increased tremendously, what we generate every year into customs coffers has now increased tremendously, what we generate yearly now is what they have generated in the last five years, this means that the level of compliance is increasing. The most important thing that we have done is to change the electioneering campaign in ANLCA; we have changed it into electronic and print campaign which is devoid of hooliganism and thuggery, some four years ago, whenever ANLCA elections is coming up, you will witness a lot of hooliganism and thuggery, but now I have also told all the participants that are contesting for positions to make sure that there is no violence, I think this needs to be commended. We are coming back by the grace of God, if the electorates give us their mandate to fulfill some of the promises we have for them. There are lots of promises we have for them if elected for the second time, we are going to create a mobile clinic where the health of the agents will be seriously looked into, we are going to pursue vigorously and make sure that every licensed customs agent is given a percentage of whatever he or she pays as revenue to the Federal Government yearly, we are also going to make sure that we preach compliance. We are also going to recognize licensed custom agents that are up and doing and are complying and doing their declaration correctly by making sure that we use our medium; Port Gist, to recognize the ones that are paying correctly and have genuine declaration. Above all, we want to liaise with the Nigerian Ports Authority to make sure that the space between Dangote and the filling station at National bus stop is given to us and we will commercialize it to a parking space so that we can reduce the number of vehicles coming into our ports. We are also going to lay emphasis on human traffic in the port, we are going to enlighten our members because most of our jobs now is e-transact, the Wi-Fi which I discussed with the management of the Nigerian Customs and they gave to us but which is epileptic, we are going to insist that it must work, this means that the money that our members are giving out to DTI cafes may be a thing of the past in the next few months. These and many more are what we are going to achieve; by the grace of God if elected for the second term.
What will you describe as the challenges you faced during your first term?
The first challenge we had is attitudinal change from Nigeria Custom Service personnel, vis-à-vis officers thinking that they can hold agents to ransom, delaying them unnecessarily even when they have complied by paying the actual duty, some of them still want to operate with the old tradition, but I never hesitate to write to their management to caution them. We also had a situation whereby security agencies still believe in what was happening in the old times where they want to be part of cargo clearance, recently we had a case with a former DPO in Tincan that was disturbing the clearance of cargo in the port, I wrote to the management of the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Ports Authority before she was removed; these and many more were what we faced. On the part of our members that we are fighting for, we find it difficult because the level of illiteracy is still very high and even though we have a functional website, some of our members do not go online to see what is really going on there, apart from this, we have moles among our members who still want to be informants and these are the challenges. Above all, the ANLCA constitution makes the ANLCA president to be too powerful that he can sack, dissolve or suspend any chapter chairman or the collective executives, this really hampered our development because there are many cases where we want to take up issues and the national will want to query you; that you don’t have to take it, and they will want to threaten us with suspension and the section 30 of our constitution, the ANLCA constitution is full of irregularities, it does not give the various chapter chairmen autonomy; even though the autonomy is stated in the constitution, with the view of the fact that the national is always threatening the chapters with this section of the constitution. I must tell you that most of the chapter chairmen are not happy but they don’t have the guts to come out and say it, I have always been having a running battle with national president on this issue. On the issue of policy, ANLCA does not have a situation whereby they can contribute to the policy making process of the Federal Government and this is not too good, ANLCA was established since 1954, they need to come out and access which government policy have they changed? This are the challenges to the various chapter chairmen, but all of them are just lying low and finding it difficult to challenge it, whenever you talk at meetings it will look as if you have an effrontery, but I don’t hesitate to say it the way I see it, irrespective of whose horse is gored, I want to look at it that the president may look at me as somebody who is rebellious, but I know that as time goes on, he will appreciate the fact that I say it the way I see it.
How were you able to achieve the tranquility that is presently enjoyed at Tincan port?
It was not easy, the first thing I did immediately I came in was to embark on a five days withdrawal of service after which the SSS, EFCC and the police were inviting me, I was profiled, my finger prints were taken, you remember the Comptroller Kuffi’s war, what I did was to make sure that at every point in time where there is flash point, I was always on ground to assure the agents that we are going to look into it and they realize that I was always looking into it, so this has really helped and we really need to commend my coordinators that are appointed, wherever there are challenges we take it headlong and it has assisted. Violence is what I preach against, I don’t engage in violence but I will subject you to constructive criticism which I have been doing, I have challenged customs on various issues and I am very sure they have seen reason with me, anywhere that they have performed well I don’t hesitate to commend them, but I don’t go about with thugs, I am the only chairman that you can see that I walk on the streets without any personal assistance, as the level of awareness is changing we should begin to re-orientate ourselves too.
It thus appear there is no unity between you and your executives?
One thing about life is that you have two categories of human beings, you have some human beings who have ambition, while you have another category who have inordinate ambition, when a man has an inordinate ambition nobody can stop that man except he or she realizes that his ambitions may not be realized, so I believe that my executives that are campaigning to succeed me now have inordinate ambition because I have called them that we should come together to do a second term, even though there are some of them that I will not accept to work with even if they offered, this is in view of their antecedents, their character and the fact that they are not productive, they were not helping my government, but I am somebody that believes that there is nobody that cannot be corrected.
Some of them have also alleged that you were not carrying them along in the scheme of things, is this true?
Carrying along in what sense? When you say I am not carrying you along, how do I carry you along? Anytime there is a development or a flashpoint in any terminal and I call somebody who claims to be my executive and he refuses to come, how do I carry him along? I thank God that none of them have accused me of embezzling any money or collecting any money from anywhere without telling them, when they say I am not carrying them along, I have taken time to ask them to define the phrase ‘carrying along’, it is only one of them that is insisting that I am not carrying them along, supposing there is an issue in car park ‘C’ and I call you to come and meet me and you are not on ground, but a coordinator that I appointed is with me, then how do I carry you along? Or an executive that will leave the port by 4pm and there is an issue that happened in the port by 9pm, how do I carry you along, you are already at home, will I come to your house to pull you out? You swore an oath of office to protect these agents, some of my executives are even informants, there are security issues that I will not discuss at the meeting when I realize there are informants within us or moles planted among us, so how do I carry somebody who is not helping the generality of agents along, it is left to them and their conscience and the electorates to look at it and judge everybody. I believe posterity will judge all of us, but whoever said I am not carrying him along should tell me where and how.
Do you feel threatened by these aspirants coming up?
No, rather I see it as being interesting, because there won’t be too much pressure on my head, we have up to three camps that are coming out and that is the beauty of democracy I am not threatened by any of them, one of my opponent is somebody we were together in the last election and I defeated him arms down, the other ones are baby politicians who need to be tutored more, one thing is that everybody may want to test his or her popularity, it is accepted and allowed in every society.
Are you sure the electorates will still want to give you their mandates?
Of course I do, how I will know is that when on the day of election the votes are cast, but I am sure of 60% of my electorates’ support.
What is the level of support you are getting from the ANLCA National Headquarters?
I am aware that the National is sponsoring candidates against me because I am too volatile or that I antagonize them; mostly on policy issues, but I don’t see that as a threat because I believe it is not the’ national’ that will come and vote, my president does not have the voting right in this case, even if he has any candidate he dare not say it out because people will read meanings to it, I am aware that the national is sponsoring candidates in the next election, but that is the beauty of democracy, we all know that some state governors may want to sponsor candidates in a local government election, it is normal, but I say it the way I see it, whether anybody likes it or not, the constitution of ANLCA must be subjected to amendment, we are in the 22nd century and before the national was given mandate, they are the same people that came to my chapter to seek for votes, we voted them in, how can the president of this country just remove a state governor, it is unconstitutional and undemocratic, I am an apostle of change saying that we must change the ANLCA constitution, and even if it takes me three years, I will ensure that this portion of the constitution is amended, there should be better ways of removing a chapter chairman; supposing the president does not like my face. On two occasions, they have threatened to suspend me for one reason or the other, I had to go and start begging, this is how most of the chapter chairmen have been cowed, they cannot talk, even on policy issues, you know what happened on the issue of benchmark, I insisted that there was nothing like benchmark in our books and I was queried, if everybody can come up like this it will make ANLCA to be a vibrant association where important policy issues will be tackled and the Federal government will even appreciate us, but I hate lame duck chairmen who just sit down and concur, I don’t do it, I went to school and I have my masters degree, so I don’t see why I should just follow suit like that when I know that what you are doing is wrong or when I have a better idea of how it should be done. If you are an historian you will remember that there was an era known as cold war era, it was an ideological war and this is what we are having in ANLCA now, we are in the era of cold war and it will continue until the old brigade see reason with the new ones.
How will you score your performance for this first term in office?
It is not possible for me to rate myself, I cannot know what I look like except I see a mirror and the mirror is the licensed customs agent in Tincan. One thing about life is that you cannot satisfy everybody, but I know that I have tried my best, my conscience is very clear and I leave it to the licensed customs agents to say about me. However I am writing a memo on what transpired during my government, the coups, the intrigues, the moles in my government and even the role of the National level in my government. Immediately this tenure winds up, by January, I should be able to release the memo so that Nigerians would actually know what happened during my tenure.
Discussion about this post