ANLCA BOT ELECTION: Vote for Track Record, former National Secretary Urges Members

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Otunba Babatunde Mukaila

By Innocent Orok

As the race for the Board of Trustees (BOT) election of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) hots up, the immediate past National Secretary of ANLCA, who was also name Sole Administrator , Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila has urged all ANLCA members who will be voting at the election to vote for track record of achievement and competent.

Mukaila who is also a candidate in the election in a chat with journalists in Lagos said he is in the race to win and to bring innovations and transparency based on his track record to ANLCA if he is elected.

The race for the Board of Trustees (BOT) membership of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has gotten hotter with the emergence of the Association’s former National Secretary and Sole Administrator, Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila, with a promise for innovation and transparency.

Alhaji Mukaila, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Mickey Excellency Nigeria Ltd, licensed by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) since 2000, confirming his status said; “I have a track-record of efficiency, transparency and diligence in over 14 years leadership roles in ANLCA”.

Mukaila, who is well-respected as the association’s longest serving Chairman of the Association Electoral Committee ( ASECO), maintained that ANLCA’s biggest challenges in the past have resulted unnecessarily abusing the role of Board members as enshrined in the ANLCA Constitution.

Mukaila, who is championing for credible members to be elected into the BOT said, “You must vote for people that have track record. I have observed that most times, we run into trouble in ANLCA when people come from nowhere and get into positions and then, start learning on the job and they are susceptible to a lot of manipulations, because they really don’t know the ethics, the norms and the tradition of this association.

“So, in a very simple term, I would want to see people with track record. Track record does not really begin and end within the association itself, if a private business man, as a member of ANLCA, you are coming onboard, people should be able to trace you, where you are coming from, who you are, your pedigree, your achievements and what you are bringing to the association. You don’t just come from nowhere and sit on the Board of ANLCA. What have you contributed?

“So, I would want to see people with proven track records that can share the same vision with me, so that together, we can drive ANLCA, redefine the relationship between the Board and the Executive because I just felt that borderline is the issue with ANLCA.”

On why he is contesting for the BOT election, he said, “I have a track record of service. I want to say I have seen it all in ANLCA since when I started and I believe more than ever before that ANLCA needs my presence in this Board and I am so confident that ANLCA members need my service.

“ANLCA Board needs to innovate, you can’t continue to do the same set of things with the same parameters and expect to get a different result.

“I have served ANLCA meritoriously, I have not been found wanting in whatever form. Besides that, as I said earlier, I want to see people that are ready to innovate. When I came into the management level of ANLCA in late 2009, I came into ANLCA that does not have a register of membership. When it is time for meeting at Tin Can, people will go there, when it is time for election at MMAC, the same set of people that finished voting at Tin Can will hire molue (bus) and go to vote at MMAC and it became so cantankerous that many time ANLCA wants to have an election, there will be gunshots.

“We lost a guy at Tin Can, we used to call him AK Ejo from Ikorodu because of election. Obicee Okonkwo’s head was broken because of election. There was no clear definition of who is a member of any chapter.

“So, we were able to look at that critically when I served in Apapa as an interim Secretary and then, we redefined that. I told my team that we need to redefine how we will be having our elections, if you want to be a member of ANLCA, you must decide on which chapter you are to be identified by. I opened a fresh register and introduced biometric Identify Card. Then, you come into ANLCA with a dedicated personal number and that number remains with you through your lifespan as you move through ANLCA.

“That brought a lot of sanity because once your name is listed as a member of Apapa, you restrict your choice of determination of who governs at chapter level to Apapa.

“I am a member of Apapa Chapter, if anything is going on in Tin Can, even if I have any interest, I cannot cast my vote there. That brought a lot of sanity and reduced the influence of the godfathers because when I came into ANLCA, there are godfathers that decide who goes where across board.

“Silently too, we were able to restrict all the big guns to a particular chapter so that the people who want to vote at Apapa know who their leaders at Apapa are. The people at Tin Can know who has decided to be a member, even though they are big guns, at Tincan. That reduced cross-carpeting and this big man dictating things in Apapa and the same man is dictating who goes at Airport, who goes at Tin Can.

“So, I intend to redefine the same relationship so that we can have peace, unity and decorum that is prevailing in ANLCA right now”.

On the issue of manipulation of the election by importing in non or unqualified license owners.

Mukaila said is not possible. “We have over 3,000 registered members in our membership register. So to verify genuine license owners is very easy, just to pick the license and verify it with Customs if the company has renewed its license up to date . So I don’t see any issue there”.

The ANLCA BOT election has a total of 14 contestants jostling for 9 slots of the BOT members. Prominent names like Dr Farinto Kayode, Babatunde Mukaila, Ozo Chukwura, Eniola Igbaroola and others are in the race for the BOT election 2024.

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