The National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Hon. Tony Iju Nwabunike has called on the interim National President of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), Alhaji Bala Lawan Daura to do all within his powers to bring all the members of the association together and to let them know that there must be a particular president at a particular time.
Nwabunike who gave this advice while playing host to a delegate from AREFFN led by Alhaji Bala who paid him a courtesy visit at ANLCA Secretariat in Lagos yesterday also advised the AREFFN President to ensure that those who actually built the house were accommodated.
“Let them know that you are just there for services, your very interest is to make sure that AREFFN is up and running but let them not see you as a clog in their wheel of progress. Let them see you as a tool that God is using to pilot AREFFN to the higher level.
“I want you to know this because I know a little story about it and I think it is important that we discuss it deeper later on a private relationship but whatever happens, it is only God that institutes leadership and I want people to begin to see it that way. Like I always tell people, if God says you cannot be, you can never be, whichever way you want to do it, it can never happen. So, it is only God that gives power and gives leadership. So, the story should go to them that they should help you to actualize the dreams of AREFFN”, he admonished.
The ANLCA boss however regretted that the freight forwarders and the customs brokers were all suffering now adding that so many man made problems had been created that they would want to tackle and that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents cannot do it alone.
According to him, “If anybody tells you that one association can solve these problems now maybe that person is being economical with the truth. So, we believe that together we will achieve the result and together we will make sure that our great profession will not be taken for granted. I always say that so many people have come into our profession, foreigners and some unscrupulous agent who actually have come to take over our profession and we will not allow that to happen.
“So, Mr. President, your coming here is not by accident, God must have ordained your way setting your footstep to come here today and the moment I saw you in Port Harcourt receiving us when we were there for our official visit, I was very excited. My eastern bloc has said this, that they have a wonderful relationship with you, good relationship that has existed between your association and our association in the east is awesome, so keep it up.
“One thing again that I have to assure you is that that relationship must extend to the national and to other chapters because as far as these associations are concerned, this is the bedrock and we are saying that today, you are welcome, we will be putting our heads together to solve our problems together. So, next time, we will come to visit you and put our heads together and solve so many problems”.
Earlier in his speech, the interim National President of AREFFN, Alhaji Bala Lawan Daura assured his ANLCA counterpart that the visit was for members of AREFFN to come and show him the love that they had for him and to brief him on what they intended doing.
He recalled that the three existing freight forwarding associations at Onne namely; ANLCA, NAGAFF and AREFFN had enjoyed a good working relationship and that whatever they do, they speak with one mind.
“That was the reason the day you came to Port Harcourt, we were there and we all went to solve the problems on ground together with you and NAGAFF as well. We are here today to tell you that ANLCA is our mother in this industry and we must accept that. As children of ANLCA, we are here to tell you that we are ready to work with you. I told my members before coming down here to see you that ANLCA is our mother and that we must work with ANLCA and for us to achieve so many things, we must be in coalition so that anywhere, whether in the chapters or in the zones or at the national level, we must work together as one so that if there is a problem that they cannot solve, ANLCA can assist and solve the problem.
“That is why we are here today to pay you a visit to this office and I want to assure you during my stay in office that we will work with all the sister associations as a coalition and we are not here to hang shoulders but we are here to take the industry to the next level and we believe that with you, we can move this industry to the next level. That is why I am here today with my executive to assure you that our door is open and that you should keep your door open too so that our men can come closer to you”, he concluded.
Photo: L-R: Interim National President of AREFFN, Alhaji Bala Lawan Daura with National President of ANLCA, Hon. Tony Iju Nwabunike during the former’s courtesy visit on the later in Lagos yesterday.
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