The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has dissociated itself from the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) and four of the five freight forwarding associations registered by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) in which they established a strategic business relationship.
It will be recalled that the associations in an MoU they signed, endorsed the appointment of the new Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) by President Muhammadu Buhari, the collection of Practitioners’ Operating Fee (POF) as proposed by the CRFFN among other issues.
But in a press release issued on Wednesday, the National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto, noted that it was fallacy to say that ANLCA would join any association to extort and exploit innocent Nigerians in the coined terms that would be going against the ethics of the association.
Farinto maintained that associating with the said associations on the issue of the POF would amount to contempt of court on the part of ANLCA having filed a suit before a competent court for interpretation of CRFFN Act and its legal right to impose POF on practitioners.
According to him,” ANLCA has a very good working and symbolic relationship with a registered and recognized importers association known as the Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SALS) led by Rev. Dr. Jonathan Nicol and other association of Nigerian importers that believed in alleviating the suffering of the masses by attempting to reduce the cost of cargo clearance in our ports and not adding to already frustrated masses in any guise.
“We call on Nigerians to be careful of the characters they associate with particularly this so called Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) as we know the characters behind this group and their pedigree. The illegal money that some unscrupulous people could not impose on stakeholders through the small arms taskforce is being given another nomenclature to extort and exploit Nigerians.
“Finally, we want to advise other freight forwarding associations to emulate ANLCA and look for a legitimate means of generating fund and not this arm twisting system of any illegitimate union that will create chaos and confusion in the maritime industry”, Farinto said.
Send your news, press releases/articles to info@primetimereporters.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @reportersinfo and on Facebook at facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526.
