PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: ANLCA Eastern Zone Endorses Farinto, Ukwu

– Contestants Promise  To Stop NPA Levy

 

Members , Eastern Zone,  Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents ( ANLCA)  have unanimously endorsed the presidential candidacy of Dr Kayode Farinto and Chief Dennis Ukwu as the preferred President and Vice President respectively in the forthcoming July 5th, 2023  NECOM election .

The zone which is known for its oneness and cooperation took  the unanimous decision on Wednesday in Port Harcourt during a campaign tour  by  Farinto who was the immediate Vice President and other contestants seeking votes  from the eastern chapters of the association.

The former National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA in his speech, narrated some of the  challenges bedevilling the association  in the last five years of even as he  listed some of the successes they have made despite the hiccups.

Farinto also known as Kayfar promised to consolidate on some of the success stories,  if elected as the next president.

 

Farinto said ” Professional colleagues, today marks another turning point  in the life of our great Association positively. This is due to the fact that  ANLCA has been engulfed in crises which  I labelled  conflict between the old and new order. We thank God for his mercies and his Intervention in our great Association.

The presidential hopeful reiterated that”I learnt my lesson during the conflict and with the life of Tony Nwabunike Administration, Vis- a – vis intrigues, backbiting, backstabbing alongside  circumventing and blocking good  policies that would have turn around the life of our members for good. Our  prayers is  that  ANLCA regains her lost glory on time. It is however, possible to achieve this with the New  ANLCA we bring to you today.

“Few days ago at the just concluded maritime stakeholders  meeting to proffer solutions to ship building and  CVFF  disbursement , Barr. Emeka Akabogu  said and I quote.” In the area of freight forwarding  and cargoes evacuation , Nigeria has remained  backwards because of too much constant bickering among the freight forwarders”. He concluded by saying the freight forwarding Associations have done a lot of disservice to the Nigerian maritime industry as a result of continued bad blood amongst themselves.

The presidential hopeful, noted that “Gentlemen, whether we like it or not , the Barr. Emeka Akabogu statement remains the fact in the maritime industry. It is unfortunate that many of the Association’s  leadership have been hijacked by  camp boys with their intention to kill the freight forwarding associations. Whenever we bring issues that can add value  to the system, challenge the operational hiccups and human factors militating against our smooth operations . You are tagged and called many names by the enemies of progress to allow the status quo to remain, which has continued to impoverished us, deprived us of professionalism and ethics in line  with International best practices.

“However, we say enough is enough . We must  move this profession to it’s enviable level  where we can now sit and compete with our international counterparts . It will interest you to know that as a result of this Infighting with those non conformist , we have lost our project Cargoes to Foreign elements by about  95%, in the East and in the Association in general,  I stand to be corrected. The question that we should asked ourselves is should we  continue?, The answer is  No.

“In view of this, I put myself Forward today to Contest  as the National President of our great Association, ANLCA’. I have worked closely with  Chief Dennis Ukwu and he has added value to the Association  in the East . Hence,  I was delighted when he agrees to be the Vice Presidential Candidate. If elected, we shall run an all inclusive Government with others that will be elected  alongside  us NECOM members .

“Have put up a 10  Point Agenda as a working document, let us look at the  10 Point  Agenda vividly . Also an  idea came to   me which we shall pursue aggressively , which is to eliminate the issue of Nigerian Ports Authority ( NPA) licencing and levy which have been on collection in the last three decades . It was a necessity  before now, but since the ports were  concessioned,  It has no value to cargo clearance  anymore,  because the landlord has become a tenant of what importance is this collections  to cargo clearance?  Its negates the practice of Ease of Doing Business policy of the Federal government. NPA has continued to enriched  herself with this collection.

“Finally,I want to thank you for your time and assure you that, if you give us your mandate , the  only regret you may have is,why haven’t we done this election before now”.

Meanwhile the Customs Area Controller of Port Harcourt Area II Command, Onne in Rivers State , Comptroller I. Imam called on members  of ANLCA, to vote for a competent and capable hand to lead the association in their fourth coming NECOM election.

 

Comptroller Imam made the clarion call on  when the presidential campaign team of Dr Kayode Farinto Collins, other contestants  and chieftains of ANLCA paid a courtesy visit the Onne Customs Controller.

 

Led by  a Patron of ANLCA, Chief Henry Njoku, the presidential candidate in the election, Dr Kayode Farinto, the Vice Presidential Candidate, Chief Dennis Ukwu, National Secretary, Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila among others, the  Customs Area Controller who described Dr Farinto as a long time friend said  he is the best person for the job.

 

“I don’t see Farinto as the Acting National President, I see him as the  president. In fact he is already there, because I know he has the capacity,  intelligence and is capable to lead ANLCA. If we were to be part of the voters , I will vote for him and endorsed him now. I urged you all to vote for him because he is competent and capable”.

Comptroller Imam who is barely four months old  at the Command said  he is having a cordial working relationship with ANLCA members and he runs an open door policy.

” My doors are open here,  I don’t bar anybody from seeing me.  In fact I need information and intelligence from outsiders more than even my officers. if I see you through my screen here , I will tell my officers to allow you in. Am not the best , is only  an opportunity to serve . You can be the best, but another thing is to be given opportunity to Serve. So I treat everybody equally”, the Controller said.

Responding to the request for training of his members and other challenges faced by his members as posited by Farinto, Comptroller Imam said, he just built a Conference hall and equipped a training centre for the Command and in the next one month he will liaise with the Onne Chapter Chairman, Chief Mike Ebeatu to seek what kind of training his members need to start training them.

On resolving operational challenges faced by freight forwarders, he said the command under his leadership will always  resolve trade disputes for a win win on both sides .