- Former Transport Minister, NIMASA DG wade into crisis
The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) remains undecided about participating at the group’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) being organized by Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) in Lagos, tomorrow.
ANLCA BOT Chairman, Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha revealed this while addressing journalists at the ANLCA headquarters in Lagos, today.
He noted that the BoT’s stance on the matter had been softened following over 4 hours meeting with the Governing Board Chairman of CRFFN, Alhaji Abubakar Tsanni today.
Mustapha, however, stressed that constitutionally ANLCA AGM can be called by the Association’s President and the Governing Board in absence of the Association’s President.
According to Mustapha, the impending AGM called by Acting President, Dr. Kayode Farinto isn’t tenable because his tenure expired more than a year ago.
Meanwhile, he argued that the meeting will have to be renamed ‘ANLCA Reconciliation Meeting’ for his group to participate, even as he observed that proposed AGM is being convened by Tsanni, who is also slated to have a meeting withe Mustapha-led BOT tomorrow.
“We are ready to resolve this crisis because we are all tired of it. However, we wouldn’t go into a peace resolution with our hands tied behind our backs. At 10am this morning I received a call from a former Minister of Transport asking why I’m not cooperating with the conflict resolution moves. I had to give him a proper explanation of our efforts to end this so far. The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, OFR has also called me on this matter and I assured him that we are ready to resolve this.”
“The only way to solve this matter is to go to where it all started and that is the issue of the BoT. There were proposals for each party to bring 4 members, but after several deliberations we couldn’t agree on the last member to make the Governing Board attained the stipulated 9 members. The other group also proposed that their 9 members join our 5-man team to make the BoT 14; but that would make the board too bogus and it also has political implications with the other party having more members.”
“I made up my mind to end this crisis after the violent incident at Tin Can Island Port last year. It was a turning point for me and I have resolved to find an end to this tussle. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep for weeks if someone had died in that incident. This crisis isn’t worth the blood of any member of this great association,” Mustapha said.
Also speaking, a BOT member, Mr. Taiye Oyeniyi assured ANLCA members that an amicable solution will be reached to end the 5-year leadership feud at the association.
He equally lamented that the association’s credibility and relevance at the seaports had dropped significantly as a result of the crisis while it has also robbed members of the group of benefits and objectives of ANLCA.
“We have reached a stage in this matter where we have to shift grounds. The decisions may not be deemed favorable by some of our members, but we will surely find an amicable solution. In the end, there will be no victor and no vanquished,” Oyeniyi assured.
Uncertainty clouds the ANLCA reconciliatory moves as the Mustapha-led BOT members are scheduled to have another meeting with the CRFFN Governing Board Chairman at dawn tomorrow, meanwhile the CRFFN-supervised ANLCA AGM could possibly be holding concurrently at Eko Hotel, Lagos.
