ANLCA BoT election: Mumuney urges members to vote merit, pushes for indemnity framework

As the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) prepares for its Board of Trustees (BoT) elections, one of the candidates Ademola Mumuney has called on members to vote based on the merits of candidates rather than personal affiliations.

Mumuney, a retired Customs officer is the Chairman of Stoirin Maritime Services Limited and the immediate past Chairman of Ikoyi Club38.

“It’s not just about voting for someone because you know him. It’s about what you feel he will do,” he said in a chat with journalists.

Addressing one of the longstanding challenges in the custioms brokerage profession, Mumuney emphasized the need for a robust indemnity framework to protect members of the association.

Stressing the importance of indemnity for customs agents, Mumuney noted that in situations where contraband or illegal items are discovered during clearance, agents often face repercussions despite their lack of direct involvement.

“If anything goes wrong during clearance at the ports, like finding drugs, the first person customs will deal with is the agent, as they are the intermediary,” Mumuney explained.

He underscored the need for a balanced approach where Customs hold the actual offenders accountable rather than punishing agents who are often caught in the crossfire.

As a member of the BoT 9 Likeminds Group, Mumuney assured that this is one of the challenges which the board will look into, in order to bring about trust for ANLCA members with the customs.

“Once customs have the importer, they shouldn’t keep holding the agent,” he noted.

To achieve this, Mumuney proposed rebuilding trust between Customs and agents, stressing that professionalism within the industry is crucial.

“Trust is very vital, and we need to clean up the profession. We must teach each other how to do the right thing so nobody comes after anyone. We’ll have a good conversation with customs, no doubt about that” he assured.

He expressed confidence in the campaign strategy of his group, known as the BoT 9, who are working together to secure votes across all regions.

“I think we’re very much on track, and I know we have a lot of support because of what we said we’re going to do, or what we intend to do,” he said.

As the election scheduled for September 12 approaches, Mumuney expressed confidence that his group’s collaborative approach and focus on key industry issues will resonate with members to secure their votes.