National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Hon. Tony Iju Nwabunike has blamed the proliferation of freight forwarding as well as maritime journalists’ association on the activities of various government agencies operating in the sector which do not want a formidable opposition.
Nwabunike who made this assertion while speaking at the roundtable organized by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) observed that so many associations were springing up because government agencies wanted them to have division among them.
As he put it, “But I tell you, what actually happened to the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents happened to MARAN. The professionals know exactly where they belong to but the truth of the matter is government agencies do not want a formidable opposition or people who want to tell them the truth. So, their dream is to divide and rule us, that is why you can see too many associations, some are mushroom association, in fact there was one I read yesterday, I have never heard the name but all the same, you see so many associations springing up because the government agencies want us to have division in the house.”
He however pointed out that the was no faction in ANLCA as there was only one National President, National Secretary and NECOM for the association even as he admitted that there were very few aggrieved members of the association who refused to attend the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the association held in Abuja in December 2018 and were suspended as a result.
“There is no faction in ANLCA because when you mean faction, you mean there is another President in another faction, there is a Secretary General in another faction and there is NECOM of another faction. There is nothing like that in our association. We have few aggrieved members who refused to come to our NEC meeting and because they did not come to our NEC meeting, they remain suspended.
“But I will tell you, the suspended officers, we are looking into it, the association is coming back strongly. Like I told you, I have gotten bashes and bruises because it is the mother of the whole association just like MARAN and I will tell you that all of us are looking forward in seeing that the association comes back to the stronger point. Today, I am assuring you that our association is stronger and a very few, they are not much, very few members of NECOM that stand suspended, we will look into and the case will be resolved.
“But that is not what I am here for, what I am is to let you know that the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents is in partnership with MARAN and to thank you so immensely for your patience, for your peace and understanding with my own association because the write ups that I was reading when I was on sabbatical leave was very commendable and I thank you so much for that”, he stated.
Photo: L-R, Managing Director of Kaduna Inland Dry Ports, Mr. Yusuf, ANLCA National President, Chief Tony Iju Nwabunike and MARAN President, Mr. Anya Njoku during a rountable organized by MARAN in Lagos on Thursday.
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