The National President, Association of Nigeria Licenced Customs Agent’s (ANLCA), Hon. Iju Tony Nwabunike, has said that 300 clearing licenses belonging to his members that were barred by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been restored.
This he said was despite the crisis bedeviling the association
Nwabunike while listing his administration’s achievements since being elected into office despite meeting empty treasury explained that he and his team recorded unprecedented successes so far.
He disclosed this during the inauguration of the newly elected chapter executives of the Aminu Kano International Airport Chapter of ANLCA.
According to him, his team brought about transformation of the hitherto analogue ANLCA Secretariat to a modern functional office with ICT gadgets in place amongst others.
Nwabunike however charged members in the Kano Chapter to keep their compliance level high and desists from anything that would place them on the wrong side of the law.
He said; “keep yourselves abreast with import and export prohibition lists, avoid smuggling, make sincere declarations and shun any acts of concealments capable of illegalities that could lead to suspension or blocking of your licenses.
“Upon resumption as National President of ANLCA, I met files containing list of over 300 licenses that were either blocked or suspended from operation by Nigeria Customs Service.
“This meant a lot to me because from my findings, each licence has capacity to provide an average of ten jobs and their non operational status has kept about three thousand persons out of employment.
“With dialogue and robust interactions, I got those licences unblocked and reactivated. Today they are all back to business.
“It is also important I add that non members of ANLCA also benefitted from this move because our association is truly the mother of others in our line of business.
“Also upon assumption of duty as National President with my team, we changed our inherited working mode from analogue to full automated operation.
“On the desk of all our National Officers are work stations connected to each other to enhance our service delivery to you.
“With very meagre resources, taking over an almost empty treasury, we have been able to keep our great association running”.
He, however, urged them to used the opportunity to dispel rumours that there was no love lost between him and his deputy, saying, his personal and official relationship with the National Vice President, Kayode Collins Farinto, is very cordial.
“Disregard unverified stories staying the contrary. We all in NECOM are bringing our resources, education and exposure as capital to run ANLCA selflessly.
“We have elastic tolerance for those who see things differently from the way we see. It is our belief that reason will prevail and elected officials will not be hoodwinked or blackmailed by anyone including past officers.
“ANLCA chapters, zones and national bodies are not exclusive fiefdom of any former officer or godfather. Elected officers owe allegiance to our constitution and recognised organs of hierarchy as constitutionally outlined”
Nwabunike noted that ANLCA is truly great and that his dream is to lead it into greater accomplishments evolving into one of the leading bodies of customs brokers in Africa and indeed the world.
He urged members to invest in relevant gadgets and get acquainted with their usage to communicate effectively and boost their productivity at work.
“Our line of business is now technology driven and must be practiced in conformity with international best practices to synchronise with government’s ease of doing business and trade facilitation agenda.
“We need to do more to promote end to end seamlessness in cargo movements from ports to either warehouses, factories and markets as our own inputs in the world of e-commerce.
“For this reason, we shall be rolling out training and retraining programmes to be facilitated by a faculty of experts that will refresh us about things we already know and teach us new things that will help our professional and economic growth,” he added.
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