The recent commissioning of the national secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has once again brought up the long-held (perhaps erroneous) believe in some quarters that the service has preference for the association.
We recall that, a few weeks ago, another freight forwarding association; the National Association of Government approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) had complained that it was being marginalised in a training programme that was organised by the Nigeria Customs Service for licensed customs agents.
The recent commissioning of the national secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has once again brought up the long-held (perhaps erroneous) believe in some quarters that the service has preference for the association.
We recall that, a few weeks ago, another freight forwarding association; the National Association of Government approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) had complained that it was being marginalised in a training programme that was organised by the Nigeria Customs Service for licensed customs agents.
Even though there were denials here and there, available documents indicated that the caveat was aimed at edging out a particular group of freight forwarders.
But apart from the duo of ANLCA and NAGAFF, there are at least three others, namely; National Association of Freight Agents and Consolidators (NAFAC), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, there is also the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN).
While Customs deal peripherally with NAGAFF, it has no formal relationship with the other three associations.
We quite understand that Customs may be guided in its action towards the other associations by a sense of history. All the associations, with the exception of NAFAC sprang out from ANLCA. There was a time when ANLCA was the only association known to the Federal Government and its agencies, including Customs and of course the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Back to the present; when information about the commissioning of the ANLCA secretariat went viral, every stakeholder was happy about the landmark achievement of the nation’s oldest freight forwarding association.
Having being a tenant since birth, it’s only natural that every one who knows ANLCA would be happy for the association.
However, the association also played into the hands of its critics by the way it handled information about the cost of the building and how it was raised.
Its national president; Prince Olayiwola Shittu had told the media that the edifice which is located at Amuwo Odofin cost a whopping N150Million, he also disclosed that it, upon completion, it would be named after the highest singular donor. This explains why the ANLCA national secretariat was christened ‘Inde Dikko House’.
While ANLCA is at liberty to name its secretariat after anyone, its explanation and justification as to why it took the decision isn’t convincing at all. At the most, it smells like a second thought, having at first thought that announcing ‘the real reason’ would be a plus!
This action of ‘gratitude’ has however thrown up a few issues in the Nigeria Customs Service’s relationship with other freight forwarding associations.
Even though it is the oldest, even though it has the highest number of licensed customs agents, ANLCA still remains one of the five existing associations. It stands to reason that they all (probably with the exemption of one) ought to enjoy the privilege of a relationship with their principal, that is Customs. This is the monopoly that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents enjoys currently.
Only recently, it was confirmed that a training programme that was meant for licensed customs agents was skewed in favour of ANLCA members. By its own admission, ANLCA had been supported in the past to attend foreign training programmes.
If in its 14 years of existence, NAGAFF for example, can not point at any collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, then something is wrong in the way the service is relating with the freight forwarding associations.
As a maritime media organisation, one reason that we can deduce for this is the long held licensed customs agent/freight forwarder dichotomy, wherein ANLCA for instance prides itself as an association of customs brokers, and NAGAFF lays claims to being a body for freight forwarders.
The fact is- majority of the companies owned by NAGAFF members are customs licensed companies.
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