By Foster Obi
National President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Custom Agents (ANCLA), Iju Anthony Nwabunike, while using this auspicious moment in Nigeria’s history to felicitate with Custom agents and freight forwarders, has called on Federal Ministries of Finance, Transport, Trade and Industry, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service and others to see the practitioners as professionals deserving of state support, not only as potential tax payers because the likely quake or collapse of the sector will adversely affect the country.
In a statement titled, ‘GOODWILL MESSAGE TO CUSTOMS BROKERS, FREIGHT FORWARDERS AND SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTITIONERS ON NIGERIA’S INDEPENDENCE, Iju said, “ANLCA under my watch will open talks with government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to see how our sub sector can be integrated into government interventionist financial programmes and support initiatives. We are a great country with very copious potentials to be greater. This 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence should spur us into more positive actions for greater good of larger number of our fellow compatriots.
“While I call on our members and professionals in our line of business to keep up their patriotic acts of engaging only in legitimate deals and prompt payment of taxes to government, it also rests on the Nigerian State to give us support.
“We have heard and seen Federal Government interventions through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industry (BoI) to private sector businesses improving on their viability and sustainability.
“No such programme has been designed for us in the freight forwarding and logistics sector of our economy. Aside not getting any form of palliative from government, there is no offer of single digit loan by government tailored towards our needs in procuring trucks, maintaining warehouses, investing in logistics aided technology like tracking devises and fleet of motorcycles for E-commerce transactions in a state of difficult traffic situation as what we experience in Lagos.”
He also called on his members and those in the logistics to be more alive and proactive in their calling. “As we join in celebrating our great country Nigeria at 60, it has become imperative for us to reflect on the many untapped potentials we have as a country, as professionals and as business men.
“These reflections should be geared towards making us contribute more in making Nigeria greater, united and more prosperous.
“Our professional calling as logistics experts playing critical roles in E-commerce now requires us to think beyond clearing cargoes from the ports and be the chain linking people and business together. ANLCA’s age is 66 (established 1954), Nigeria is 60. We shouldn’t just be glorying in old age without commensurate maturity to match our many years of existence as a body of great professionals. We must not derail in our drive for success.
“We should continually see ourselves as part of the move to diversify Africa’s largest economy from a totally oil dependent country to a viable country making sustainable revenue from non oil sector.
“Our roles in the import, export and supply chain management has made us critical contributors to government revenue drive of attaining over N4 trillion by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and supporting the Nigeria Customs Service in sustaining it’s N1trillion yearly collection.
“Our sector holds the capacity for 50,000 direct and ancillary employments from the ports, airports, border stations, delivery chain linking warehouses and market, if properly harnessed.”
