Beyond Customs: Prince Olawale Cole Changing ANLCA’s Tin Can Port Narrative with POC Foundation

—Not Less than 20 freight practitioners take advantage of Sickbay on Daily Basis

By DAPO OLAWUNI

There is no gainsaying that the Tin Can Island Chapter Chairman of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Olawale Mathew Cole has recorded significant positive milestones since he was elected into office in February 2025.
Prince Cole has become a beacon of hope, offering free healthcare and education to ANLCA members, his initiatives are also saving lives and empowering the less privileged.

Suffices to say that Prince Cole have since emerged as the Coordinator of all the Chairmen of freight forwarding associations operating at the Tin Can Island Port, as they have all agreed to work in unity and speak in one voice.

More importantly, the ANLCA Chairman has provided succour to a lot freight forwarders with his Prince Olawale Cole (POC) Foundation, a Non-givernmental organisation.
Regardless of being ANLCA member or not, the POC Foundation is a vehicle to assist the less privileged in the society including the widows, the elderly and children.

Currently, the POC has a sickbay situated at the ANLCA Tin Can Port chapter where DAILY TREND gathered that, not less than 20 freight practitioners visit the centre daily in need of health assistance.

According to the Coordinator of the POC Foundation, Mrs Olanrewaju Aderonke, the sickbay has treated many health emergencies including malaria, food poisoning, blood pressure, sugar level among others which has claimed the lives of many freight forwarders unknowingly.

Mrs Aderonke while conducting our correspondent around the facility said “There are times we have twenty or ten people coming here on daily basis. We have malaria tests and drugs for people with malaria, people with food poisoning have been here for treatments.

“The sickbay is like a first aid centre, anything that goes beyond us here, we refer the patients to the general hospital in Apapa. We are finalising our agreement and they are coming for inspections of our centre.

“We have another professional surgeon at an hospital in Ikeja Lagos, if it is a major surgery that is required for any of our members, we take such member to this reputable surgeon.

“In terms of payments, this is where the personality of the person involved comes in, if it is a member that can take care of himself, after referring him, we just care for him. But if it is someone that cannot afford the medical bills, that is where we can decide to come into the picture by bearing a certain percentage of the medical payment.

“There are people that are not even our members that we are catering for, we have many we are supporting.

“Apart from the JAMB forms which the POC foundation obtained for secondary school students, we have students who were given scholarships and we are taking care of their school fees.

“POC is a foundation, and the sickbay is under this foundation, it is not the only thing we do.
Prince Olawale Cole being the Chairman of ANLCA at Tin Can just decided to extend this privilege to the members because we noticed that some of our members are just dying without paying attention to their health.

“Going by the records we have here, many of the agents we checked, their blood pressure is always on the high side, not only this, their sugar level is also on the rise. Some of them are aware of these health conditions but they have no money to treat it, while some are not even aware at all.
However, we give first aid and things that calm the patients, if the situation does not change, we refer them to go to the hospital”

Also speaking on the usefulness of the POC Sickbay to clearing agents, the Public Relations Officer of the ANLCA Tin Can Chapter, Onome Joy Monije said the sickbay is not limited to ANLCA members alone.

“All stakeholders come around and make use of the sickbay, people are coming over to make use of the facility, they check their sugar level, their blood pressure and their overall health.
“We have a standby nurse that we employed who gives injections.
For common sicknesses like malaria, treatment and drugs are being given free. Once in a while, Professional doctors are brought in” she said

The Chief of Staff to Prince Cole at ANLCA Tin Can Chapter, Mr Charles Ubah in his remarks added that, in changing of the narratives for ANLCA under Emenike Nwokeoji, Tin Can Island Chapter under Prince Cole is a pace setter.

“We want people know that everything is not about making money and going about with the title of being chairman, we are making sure that even the downtrodden benefits from this presence administration of Prince Olawale Cole ” he said