ANLCA Heavyweights, Nwokeoji, Shittu, Ariyo, Oyeniyi Set to Storm Ikorodu to Commission Sula Royal Complex Sunday

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The Igbogbo community in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State will on Sunday, November 1, 2026, witness a double celebration as maritime industry stakeholder and businessman, Alhaji Sulaiman Ayokunle, is conferred with the title of Alakoso-Adeen of Igbogbo Central Mosque, alongside the official commissioning of his multi-million-naira Sula Royal Premium Complex Limited.
The twin events are expected to attract traditional rulers, political leaders, maritime industry stakeholders, business executives, members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), religious leaders, family members, friends and residents of Igbogbo and neighbouring communities.
The chieftaincy ceremony will hold at 9:00 a.m. at Igbogbo Central Mosque, 7 Odofin Street, Igbogbo, Ikorodu, while the reception and commissioning of the Sula Royal Premium Complex will take place at noon at Nos. 41, 43 and 45 Oba Adeboruwa Road, Igbogbo.
The conferment of the Alakoso-Adeen title on Ayokunle is in recognition of his contributions to the propagation of Islam, philanthropy, community development and service to humanity. A respected son of Igbogbo, he has over the years supported religious activities and community initiatives, assisted the less privileged and contributed to the development of his immediate environment.
Ayokunle is the Chief Executive Officer of Sula Marine Services Ltd and a former Public Relations Officer of the ANLCA PTML Chapter, as well as Special Assistant on Media to the ANLCA National President. In this concluding part of our interview, he speaks on the operational challenges confronting licensed customs agents, gives his assessment of Customs’ B’Odogwu platform, and reveals who will grace Sunday’s events.

What are the major operational challenges currently confronting licensed customs agents in Nigeria, particularly in cargo clearance, port logistics and regulatory compliance?

Most of our challenges no longer come from Customs. Its modernisation process has given us options for clearance procedures. We have the red lane for physical examination, the blue lane for diplomatic and presidency consignments, and the green lane, where we now use Fast Track and AEO migration.

The AEO, of course, forms the bulk of my consignments, because I have almost five consignees who are AEO beneficiaries. Within 36 hours, you can take delivery of your cargo. It should be within 24 hours, or even 12, but the attitude of terminal operators and shipping companies, especially MSC Shipping, gets in the way.

MSC Shipping can delay your consignment for two days, for a release that should not take more than an hour. After the release, the next step in AEO clearance is to match your shipping company’s release with your gate, because you must have done your gate before going for your TDO. Sometimes, when you get to the terminal for the TDO, they delay you for more than a day, which is against the Time Release Study (TRS) of the Customs Service.

The real challenges in the port clearance process are not even from Customs. They are from other port operators.
On physical examination of cargo, there are overlapping functions among government agencies. NESREA will be contesting the same consignment with NAFDAC, saying it is their product. Hardly will you see any product that NESREA won’t tell you is theirs.

The National Single Window is having its own challenges for now. I believe that once they get it right, we will have more respite from these agencies. As for Customs, we can say they have improved, but there is still room for them to do more.

What is your assessment of Customs’ B’Odogwu platform?

I was one of those who criticised B’Odogwu when it was launched. The pilot scheme was tested at the PTML Command, where I was then the Public Relations Officer of the ANLCA chapter and also Special Assistant on Media to the ANLCA National President. I was commissioned to grant a press interview, and after that interview, Customs went back to improve on B’Odogwu.
Remember where we are coming from: ASYCUDA++, NICIS I and NICIS II. We were all insinuating that the service providers who were leaving might have sabotaged the system and were not allowing it to work for those taking over.
Customs took the bull by the horns and improved on it. The only area where we still want a solution is the network. At that time, the server was epileptic, and once it is epileptic, it affects clearance procedures.

If government can do more to make the servers more effective and efficient, it will help us a great deal, and our challenges will be reduced to the minimum.

Turning to Sunday’s events, who are the expected guests?

The programme is very large and wide. My primary constituency, ANLCA, will definitely be here. The National President, Emenike Nwokeoji, has given his assurance, and so has the National Vice President, Prince Segun Oduntan. Our President Emeritus, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, the President of Oodua Logistics, Aroba Oye Ariyo, and the evergreen patron of ANLCA, Prince Taiye Oyeniyi, will be here too. The chapter executives have all promised to attend. I am one of them, and we are anxiously expecting them. Obviously, we shall receive them.

It is not only about ANLCA. In the Igbogbo Kingdom, the King, with several other kings, will grace the occasion.

The Chairman of the day is the newly installed Odofin of Remo Kingdom and Odofin of Ikorodu, who is also Chairman of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, High Chief Ogunsanya. Other dignitaries include the member of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson, as well as other members of the House of Representatives and State House of Assembly.