The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari following his victory at last Saturday’s presidential election even as it called on the president to give priority attention to the nation’s maritime industry in his second term in office.
The National Vice President of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto who congratulated the president in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday observed that President Buhari had not gotten the support of the maritime stakeholders because of the neglect the industry suffered in his outgoing first term in office adding that this was another opportunity for him to write his name in gold as far as the industry was concerned.
“Let us have a very good road in the maritime industry, let us have interconnectivity in terms of multi-modal system, the roads are over used, our railways should start working, we should not depend on the road alone. Then let us have a very good electronic call up system, the one we have now is manual call up system which is seriously encouraging corruption.
“Let us have a consistent maritime policy and let us have a port development plan. If that is done, everybody in the industry will be happy, the rate of death will reduce because everybody is plying Okada in the industry. I can tell you that an average of four hundred to five hundred maritime stakeholders is either in the local orthopedic or modern orthopedic hospitals.
“The issue of reconstruction of the Tincan-Mile 2 road has also been abandoned. We heard that it was given to Dangote, there should be a directive from the federal government mandating this people to expedite action on the road and let us see how various illegal charges can be reduced.
“The ease of doing business policy has not been working, it was a lofty idea in the first place but because of human factor, it has never worked. Let us see how we can implement the ease of doing business and get it working for the good of this economy and for the betterment of Nigeria. I wish Mr. President all the best”, he added.
Farinto who is also the Managing Director of Wealthy Honey Investment Limited however frowned at election occasioned by violence and shedding of innocent blood saying that “our democracy is not there yet because the elections conducted by Goodluck Jonathan was very peaceful, there was no shedding of blood but this particular one, from what we have seen, lives were lost.
“The annoying thing was the involvement of the military. It is rather unfortunate; it means that we have moved more than twenty steps backward. But having said that, what I know is that Buhari has not sent anybody to commit atrocities but he is the one that has won the election.
“Be that as it may, I can tell you that the 2019 Presidential election has come and gone but there will be post-election litigations which is expected in every ideal society because a lot of people are aggrieved, people that were not allowed to vote or people that were actually killed. The issue of Rivers State is too barbaric, it should not happen in an ideal state”.
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