…Says I don’t need to be Board Chairman, Secretary to bring desired change
The immediate past Sole Administrator of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila has said that he is contesting for a slot in the Board of Trustees, BoT of the association to redefine the relationship between the Board and the Executive arms of the association.
Mukaila who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Lagos on Thursday, said that ANLCA Board needed to innovate and jettison the idea of doing the same set of things with the same parameters, expecting to get a different result adding that his involvement in the Board of ANLCA would change the dynamics and give ANLCA a leverage to change the way the Board was being run with his contributions.
He said, “And why do I need to go to the Board in specific terms? I need to go to Board so that the Board of Trustees and the Executive relationship can be redefined and that is key. The only issue ANLCA has been having is lack of transparency and lack of critical definition of the roles of the Board and that of the Executive who the constitution provides with the powers to be the governing arm of ANLCA.
“So, I am going into the Board to redefine the relationship between the Board and the Executive of ANLCA. And what is the role of the Board? The role of the Board is clearly defined, it is supposed to work to give ANLCA a direction. It is not the job of the Board to want to run the government of the day. The constitution is very clear under Section 5 on who is in charge.
“You will agree with me that when you have a CEO in Zenith Bank, for example, the bulk stops on his table. I keep asking people, and journalists like you, who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of NAGAFF? Where is he? But the difference is the case in ANLCA. When the President moves here, the Board moves there, when the President goes left, the Board goes right and that has continued to divide the loyalty of our members because they are confused. They really don’t know which person or which office they owe their loyalty to. And the loyalty of ANLCA members, first and foremost, is to the President who is the CEO. The Board only advise constructively and give directions.
“Critically speaking, the position of the Board is to hold properties of the association in trust. So, in a very nutshell, I am going into the Board to redefine the roles of the Board in relation to that of the executive and let every member know where their loyalty should lie and who should run the affairs of the association on daily basis.”
On how he intended to redefine the relationship between the Board and the Executive if he didn’t succeed as Chairman of the Board, he said, “In all my time in ANLCA, I served diligently following people and that service is not lost to people, the members. The change I have been able to brought into ANLCA in my own modest way, even when I am not sitting in the helms of the affairs, is not lost and that is the only reason a lot of members came to me and felt, ‘you have built a little bit of standards and structure that we can see, it is self sustaining, why don’t you try the same thing at the Board? Maybe, there will be decorum.
“I don’t need to be the Board Chairman, I don’t even need to be the Board Secretary to contribute my quota as a member of the Board but my voice will be heard loud and clear within the Board when I stand on issues.”
On why he decided to throw his hat in the ring, he said, “My reason for coming to the Board is because I have a track record for service. I want to say I have seen it all in ANLCA since when I started and I believe more than ever before that ANLCA needs my presence in this Board and I am so confident that ANLCA members need my service.
“After a very deep consultation, I have to give in to the yearning of ANLCA members. I did not decide to run, a lot of members, the Directors, a lot of license owners approached me and felt I should go into that Board to innovate and continue to give service. After a long consultation, I gave in having known that the Board is not a 24/7 business compared to what I have been known for in ANLCA because in the last fourteen years in ANLCA, I have given my time. I have shown passion and I believe the Board is more or less like a past time, so I believe the little I can still contribute, I am ready to do that.”
Photo: Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila, immediate past Sole Administrator and ANLCA Board of Trustees hopeful (sitting middle) and Hajia Bola Muse, National Treasurer, ANLCA in a group photograph with supporters after the media chat in Lagos Thursday.
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