Even as the date of elections into chapters in its western zone draws near, a leader of a rival association has alleged that pecuniary reasons are responsible for the violence that characterise elections in the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA).
This was alleged by the National President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukor in an interview with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos.
Even as the date of elections into chapters in its western zone draws near, a leader of a rival association has alleged that pecuniary reasons are responsible for the violence that characterise elections in the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA).
This was alleged by the National President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukor in an interview with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos.
Dr. Ukor who was a former member of ANLCA claimed that he was the first secretary of the committee that started the collection of practicing fee for the association in 1990 added that it was his personal vehicle that was used to go round the ports to collect the fees at that time.
He alleged that ANLCA has been collecting the controversial practicing fee since 1990 and that the association has not been giving account of the revenue so collected, according to him, this was the main reason why chapter executives of the association make it a do or die affair to ensure that they win elections and get control of the collection.
He alleged further that this was the reason why the ANLCA has been fighting vehemently against the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) because the council has decided to collect the fees for the government and remove the collection from ANLCA.
Dr. Ukor alleged that since 1990 “ANLCA has been collecting the money and they have gotten so rich, those who wants to get all those money they are collecting are now killing themselves to become chairmen and chapter executives, and when these monies are collected, nobody gives account of it, so whatever they collect goes into their private pockets, it is because of that money that there is a do or die affair at the elections”.
He also accused the members of ANLCA in the CRFFN of misleading the council over the years in connection with the practicing fees collection.
“The six people that were appointed by the minister were from ANLCA, and they were the people that have been eating the money, so they kept eating the money and did not tell them the right thing to do, they were all members of ANLCA who have benefitted in one way or the other from the practicing fee, so they kept the council in the dark”, he alleged further.
Dr. Ukor also alleged that ANLCA has been using its own instruments to collect practicing fee from everyone who clears goods from the port and that even the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) the Nigerian Police and other authorities have refused to do anything about it, even though stakeholders have complained bitterly.
“75% of the goods that come into the ports are cleared by people who do not belong to any association, so how do they collect, ANLCA come to the gate with bouncers, they intimidate you and force you that you must pay, they have forced me to pay and I paid, they collect the money by force and you cannot do anything about it”.
“The authority in one way or the other is also benefitting so they don’t want to do anything, I have taken the matter to the NPA, police and so on but they have refused to do anything about it and ANLCA is still collecting the money till tomorrow” he stressed.
Discussion about this post