ANLCA Appoints Sole Administrators for Western Zone Chapters

…Issues 30-days Deadline for Membership Renewal, Registration At 15,000

By DAPO OLAWUNI

As a direct fallout of its emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at its national secretariat in Lagos on Friday, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has resolved to appoint sole administrators for Apapa, Tin Can, KLT and PTML chapters of the association, which have factional chairmen and expired tenures.

The association has also reconstituted the membership of the Association Electoral Committee (ASECO) following the resignation of its former Chairman, Chief Alloy Nze Igwe.

The newly reconstituted members of ASECO are Francis Itua, Samuel Oluwole Obe, Mustapha Yakub, Obiora Elochukwu, Oluwatope Fatimehin, Erasmos Ekowa, Abayomi Ajibade and Lekan.

Although a new Chairman is yet to be appointed by the National Executive Committee (NECOM), the newly formed ASECO will be responsible for conducting elections for the
association’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and various ANLCA chapters, many of which are overdue.

Speaking with journalists shortly after , National President of ANLCA, Emenike Nwokeoji said the NECOM also explained that the sole administrators will have the mandate to meet with the factions and reconcile the chapters’ record within 90 days, within which period election will hold.

He said, “What we have just done is to obtain the approval of NEC to appoint sole administrators in the chapters with factional chairmen.”

Speaking on the reason why the NECOM has not been able to conduct elections into the board, Nwokeoji explained that the association needs to update it’s membership register.

He urged members to renew their membership within 30 days, stating that the updated register will be used for the BoT election.

He said, “One of the reasons why we have not been able to conduct the elections is because we needed to update our membership register and that is the first thing we are starting with on Monday. Let our members renew their membership for 2024. That will help us to build an authentic data which will be used for the BoT elections.

“We will send the forms to all chapters and anywhere you are you can build the data for us and members who are not yet registered will need to pay N15, 000 to renew their membership.

“In the form, you will state your chapter and at the end of the day when the election is conducted and the chairmen emerge, the chairmen will come to the national secretariat and with the numbers of his members that are registered, the national and the financial secretary will work out the amount and give them their due, which will serve as their take off grant.

“Mind you if you are not a registered member of the association yet and you pay N15, 000, by the time the committee will seat over it and noticed that you are just a new member, you will be called upon to come and pay the balance- project levy, which so many of us are paid.”

Explaining why the national secretariat decided to conduct the registration for the membership list, Nwokeoji said it is to ensure accountability and authenticity as factional chairmen cannot be trusted to handle the process.

His words, “If we allow the factional chairmen to continue to register I can bet you that the money they use in registering will not be accounted for. Apart from money, we cannot guarantee that those list are authentic enough.
So if you know you have renew your licenses and you still claim to be a member of this association, you have 30 days to fill the form and submit it.

“That does not mean that after 30 days, you are not a member, anytime you raise money you can always fill the form and be registered. But at the end of 30 days, we will pick whatever number we have in the register, publish it for the purpose of the BoT election.

“All of these will be going on simultaneously while ASECO themselves will role out their program for the BoT election.”