ANLCA Chairman, Prince Wale Cole Debunks Purported Agreement Meeting with Hon Abejide Over Customs Licenses Fee Hike

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Following the controversies that has trailed the recent Channels TV interview by Hon Leke Abejide, Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Exercise, where he claimed to have met with leaders of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) on the matter of proposed increment in Licenses fees for clearing agents by the Nigeria Customs Service, the Chairman of the Tincan Island Port Chapter of ANLCA, Prince Wale Cole, has issued a statement clarifying his position and the nature of a meeting he held with the lawmaker recently.
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Abejide’s comments, which supported a proposed increase in the Customs Agents license fee to N10 million for fresh issuance and N4 million for renewal, stirred significant controversy, especially among ANLCA members at National and chapters level, particularly because he mentioned a meeting with Prince Cole on the subject, claiming that the ANLCA Chairman had agreed with him on the increment.
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In a statement on Tuesday 26th August 2025, Prince Wale Cole confirmed he met with the legislator but emphatically denied that the license fee increase was ever on the agenda.
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“My professional colleagues let me start by addressing the interview of Hon Leke Abejide, Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Exercise on Channels TV last week Friday where my office as Chairman of Tincan Island Port Chapter was being mentioned,”

“Myself and Chairman Apapa Port Chapter, had an unofficial meeting with him last week Wednesday in Abuja as he mentioned, but never discussed increase on customs licences fees.” he said

​According to Prince Cole, the discussion was focused on operational issues affecting their members at respective commands, with a major emphasis on the Nigeria Customs B’Odogwu trade platform and its network glitches.
He explained how the Apapa chapter Chairman on his part had detailed the reasons for their letter of withdrawal of service due to the operational challenges, thereby leading to Abejide’s intervention.
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“Chairman apapa explained further why the associations in Apapa wrote a letter of withdrawal of service, which he (Abejide) intervened and immediately called the Chairman of Trade Modernisation Project (TMP), a service provider of B’Odogwu network and his technical team in charge of B’Odogwu network, this made us clear the backlogs of jobs at Tincan, Apapa and PTML ports and more revenue was generated last week,” he stated.
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The ANLCA chairman further noted that at the meeting, himself and his colleague also raised the issue of the newly introduced Customs 4% FOB on imported cargoes and the effects on trade facilitation and the economy because of the increase on duty rates.

He mentioned that they agreed to collect data to compare duty paid before and after the 4% FOB implementation.
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Prince Cole also highlighted another successful outcome of the meeting which has to do with resolving licensing issues of his chapter members.
“Lastly we were able to resolved licences having operational challenges with the office of PCA(post clearance audits), PAAR office at NCS HQ through the office of DCG T&T and ACG PCA.”
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Reiterating his commitment to his members, Princw Cole emphasized that his administration is driven by the principles of empowerment and professionalism through customs licensing, and that there was no way he could have agreed with the lawmaker for government to increase licensing fees by 2,000%.

He concluded by stating that “Custom Licensing as a way of empowerment and professionalism has driven my administration. Hence, my recovery drives of licenses with minor operational hitches for our members.”