By Frank Kintum
The National President of the Association of Nigeria Licenced Customs Agents (ANLCA), Mr. Iju Tony Nwabunike has commended Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders for “our individual and collective resilience in keeping our ports working and making the total logistics chain functional during the periods of lockdown and movement restrictions”.
In his New Year Message made available to Transport Day, the consummate logistics expert stated that “being at work and staying compliant with Covid19 protocols throughout the periods when many others stayed at home are functions of individual self-discipline, corporate coordination and selflessness.”
According to him, “this selfless attribute was a factor-driven and held beyond personal gain by you but aimed at ensuring needed cargoes, including medical supplies exited our ports to their destined locations across the country.
“Even when the Federal Government provided free buses for us to access and exit ports, which in most cases weren’t enough, many of you were at work on your own at extra costs to you. You are appreciated.”
The National President nonetheless called for caution in the face of the second wave of Covid-19, urging practitioners to adhere to all safety guidelines.
He assured that “ANLCA under my watch and by your popular mandate, will continue to engage government strategically at various levels to achieve better deals for all our colleagues.
“We look forward to interfacing stronger with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Industry (BoI) on the need for a special loan scheme to help logistics firms in expanding and maintaining fleet of heavy-duty and lighter vehicles required beyond coverage of train services.
“As the world evolves new and faster ways of doing things, we must strengthen the chords of e-commerce, online transactions, virtual meetings and deploying Internet of things (IoT) to maximal economic and productive use.”
The National President, while recalling that, “criminal elements made murderous attempts at human lives and destroyed part of our property at the National Secretariat of ANLCA last year”, added that “we are moving forward without grudge and on behalf of all members of the National Executive Committee (NECOM), we have forgiven the misdeeds of anyone attempting to disrupt our development agenda for ANLCA and our profession.
“No person or group is perfect. Whoever feels offended or aggrieved by our style of administration should also forgive us any perceived shortcoming on our part. We can explore continually, the channels of dialogue and tolerance as we grow older and stronger.”
