Acting 
National President, Association of Nigeria Licence Customs Agent , Dr Farinto Kayode Collins PhD, has said that there is no going back on the association AGM slated to take place in few days time. He also said the association will conduct it’s National Executive Committee (NECOM) election after the AGM, as according to him, the present NECOM will not stay a day longer in Office.
He stated that for any ANLCA member to attend the 2023 AGM and any of the association AGM they most have a License or be a Director of a company Licensed by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and a Corporate member of ANLCA. With a payment token of N10,000 being 2023 Annual Dues.
Dr Farinto hinted this during a world press conference organized by the Association at it’s national secretariat in Lagos. While adding that every other dues and conditions were waived as agreed to make sure nobody is left out,
he said there is no going back on the AGM.
He disclosed that the association will conduct it’s National Executive Committee (NECOM) election after the AGM, as according to him, the present NECOM will not stay a day longer in Office.
He however called on all members to eschew bitterness and leverage on the olive branch from the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to resolve the crises.
He stated that CRFFN had intervene in the association crises, when it decided to supervise and sponsor the 2023 Annual General Meeting ( AGM).which is slated for March 15th 2023, in Lagos State.
It could be recalled that the Council as one of the conditions for the AGM mandated both warring Board of Trustees (BOT) members to nominate four Board members from both sides, while the 9th member will be elected at the AGM.
But , since the pronouncement by the CRFFN, the aggrieved factions seems not to be comfortable with the Council’s decision .
In his words ” Ladies and gentlemen, it no longer news that the great ANLCA you used to know in the past four years has been in crises and all efforts to resolve the crises have not yielded any fruitful result yet. You are all aware of the various court cases about 14 in number, which we have won 13 of them. You are equally aware of various Police interventions and cases to equally address the issues, but yet no headway.
It was based on the inability of both the Courts and Police to successfully resolved the ANLCA crises that the CRFFN was brought in.
“Mind you, it was not me, Dr Kayode Farinto Collins nor the NECOM that brought in the Council. Rather as I learnt, it was the two BOT heads , Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha and Prince Ozo Chukwura, who approached the Council in 2022 to step in to resolve the ANLCA crises based on their Act which provides for such intervention.
“I want to also state it clear here that even though some of us from ANLCA are members of the Governing Council of the CRFFN, we were never part of the Committee set up by the Council to resolve the ANLCA crises, neither did we influence their report at any time or induced the Council Chairman to turn the committee report in our favour as being speculated by some mischief makers in the social media.
“So their allegations of the Council turning the report on our favour is baseless, mischievous and cheap propaganda to once again truncate the peace process, since it’s not in their favour. Again, we are even more at disadvantage, out of our 9 duly elected board members, only 4 will be taken, but for the purpose of peace and for ANLCA to move forward, we have appealed to the remaining 5 BOT members to abide by the Council’s decision for peace to reign.
“Let me briefly inform you of the latest CRFFN decision that has called for the slated AGM. I received a letter from the Council about three weeks ago, informing me that the CRFFN has decided to intervene and be part of our AGM, after the one we wanted to organize in February 2023, but was step down due to request from the council.
“In the letter CRFFN stated that both sides will provide 4 Board members each to attend the AGM, while the 9th member will be elected at the AGM, where both sides will provide a Candidate each.
The Council in its magnanimity decided to sponsor the AGM. The Council also fixed the date and venue of the AGM, which was later postponed to 15th of March due to the 2023 Elections.
“Again, I want to state here, neither the Chairman, nor any Council member intimated any of us or seek our opinions before taking their decisions. I learnt that it was the agreement of both BOT factions. It is also instructive to state here that , this was purely a BOT affairs and neither me nor any member of NECOM could have intrude into their decisions as been speculated by those who are bent on destroying ANLCA”, Farinto quipped.
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Emphasizing more on the AGM, he said “As I speak with you over 200 of our members have registered for the 2023 AGM going through the normal process of verification and authentication of any Licensed presented and the position of the company representatives, which must be a Director level in such Company and the process has been going smoothly and is ongoing.
“I want to state here emphatically and to be on record that, anybody that wants to attend the 2023 ANLCA, AGM must pass through the normal process as contained in the ANLCA Constitution, no matter your position in ANLCA. I have done mine and I expect others to do theirs too.
“Again, for the records too, the Data base of ANLCA members is domiciled in the National Secretary’s Office and anybody that wants to attend the AGM must clear his/ herself in that office. I want to state that, anybody that went somewhere to collate licenses without clearing from the National Secretary’s office to authenticate the genuineness or otherwise of such Licenses will not be accepted. ANLCA is a constituted Association, and we all agreed to follow our constitution and that is sacrosanct,” Farinto warned.
Also speaking on the 2023 NECOM election, the ANLCA Acting National President, said after the AGM, the process for election will commence. He called on all members to prepare for the NECOM election.
” I know you are all aware that the tenure of this NECOM expires on 16th April 2023 as given to us by the amended 2020 ANLCA Constitution at the Owerri AGM. I want to tell u emphatically, that this NECOM will not stay one day extra in office. As such the process of conducting the 2023 NECOM Election will be part of the decisions taken at the 2023 AGM. For your information and in accordance with ANLCA Supreme Constitution, within 90 days to the expiration of any NECOM tenure, election must be held to bring in new leaders and the 90 days stated counting from February.
“I want to state again here that NECOM Election is free to be contested by any member of ANLCA to the various positions as far as you are cleared by the Association Electoral Commission (ASECO), nobody can stop you ,if you are qualified and I employ members to dust their documents to contest in any positions of their choice, whenever the ASECO starts the election process.”
