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Freight Monitor

 Interim NECOM members appointed by Taiwo Mustapha are  impostors, have no customs licenses— Babatunde Mukaila

Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila
The eyewitness reporter
The Association of Nigerian  Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has disclaimed four chieftains of the association purportedly appointed by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha- led factional group of the association.
 In a no-holds-barred interview by Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila, the National Secretary of ANLCA, the four persons appointed by the factional leader of the association into the interim NECOM of the factional group are not known under the supreme constitution of ANLCA because they don’t have valid customs licenses to practise as customs brokers.
They include Pius Ujubuonu, the Acting National President, Adeyinka Jamiu Ishola, the Acting National Vice President, Waheed Badmus, the  Acting Financial Secretary and Francis Ozemede Itua, the Acting National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of the factional group.
Alhaji Babatunde Mukaila further disclosed that the four persons appointed by Alhaji Taiwo Mustapha have no Licenses and that Mustapha who claimed to be a leader in ANLCA should know the association’s constitution, wondering if he was just being mischievous to cause confusion in ANLCA.
 Excerpts.
As the National Secretary of ANLCA and custodian of a database of the Association, it is no longer news that with the intervention of the CRFFN, your AGM will be holding soon.

 We know this is not the first time you are holding an AGM, but the story outside there seems as this is your first AGM,  can you tell us the criteria and conditions for members to attend this all-important AGM?

Thank you for having me, the constitution of ANLCA irrespective of any version at your disposal, Section (4), under Membership stipulates that members of the association shall be limited to corporate bodies incorporated under the CAMA1990 as amended 2020.

 So,  all our AGM is supposed to be governed by general members, those Companies who are corporate members of ANLCA.
 So is not a new thing as you rightly said,  It is just the company owners that should come forward and participate in the AGM and the representatives of those companies ought to be Directors who must have had, this is the caveat, at least 10% of the shareholding of those companies and at least five years running and whose membership status must as well be five years with ANLCA. I hope that answers your question?

 Besides the ANLCA Constitutional requirements, any other conditions or requirements for members who want to attend the AGM?

In my simple answer, a little while ago, I talked about Section (4) of our constitution, about membership. The other thing, very important is what should follow to register as a member of ANLCA.

 Any member of ANLCA under the same Section (4), Sub-section (3) Registration of members, states that for that purpose of Registration ” A member shall make an application in writing to the ANLCA Headquarters through his chapter within his area of an operation via Executive or Committee set up, shall recommend the applicant to the NECOM.
The applicant is deemed fit and proper person to be admitted as a member. He shall be so admitted”.

 There are fees to be paid and the fee is N10,000, from members, which is the Annual Dues. So that qualifies you if you have a valid License and be up to date financially for you to attend the AGM.

 So if this has been the criteria, what do you think is responsible for the hullabaloo created by the aggrieved faction about the AGM?

I wouldn’t know why?. Because if you are a member of ANLCA, it’s an automatic thing for you to attend the AGM as the Director of your company whose License is valid,  and two who have paid their dues up to date.

I want to believe anybody raising eyebrows, is it that they don’t have a license or they are not financially up to date as members of ANLCA? That will be my straightforward answer.

That brought us to the issue of License. We have been hearing that some people who were appointed by the aggrieved faction as NECOM in acting capacities don’t have licences.

 As the Scribe and custodian of ANLCA documents and data, how true is this? 

Thank you for that your wonderful question. In a situation of crises all over the world, crises of war in that perspective, the first casualty is the truth and ANLCA is not an exception.

 There has been a lot of falsehood, and fake news and to put it in a very straight perspective, I believe some ANLCA members who have served either by errors of commission or omission at the highest level should know better and be conversant with their constitution.
 To answer your question, yes I believe Taiwo Mustapha who has consistently claimed to be whatever he says he is to be abreast with the provisions of the ANLCA Constitution.
 I will go straight to when Mustapha broke in here ( ANLCA National Secretariat) and said he has appointed interim NECOM.
The constitution of ANLCA is very clear under Section ( 4), that members of ANLCA shall be limited by Corporate companies, notwithstanding Sub-section (1) and under Section ( 2).
 It went further to say that no company or firm shall be registered as a member of ANLCA if, Section ( 4), Subsection (2a) does not carry on business in the Shipping and Freight Forwarding (b) if not Licensed by Nigeria  Customs.
 I see it as mischief or lack of knowledge on the part of Taiwo Mustapha to have violated the ANLCA constitution by appointing people who do not have corporate Company Licenses by the Customs to positions at the National level.
So to confirm your allegation, I will run it down for you. Sometimes, I think it was 24th August 2022,  Taiwo Mustapha came into ANLCA National Secretariat and appointed some people who are not owners of Corporate companies and who are not registered to carry out the business of Shipping and Freight Forwarding as enshrined in the ANLCA Constitution into positions of authority.
 I believe Taiwo Mustapha should have known better than to make such grievous mistakes and cause the confusion that we are all seeing now.
Let me say anything I say to you, I will substantiate it. On that faithful day, one Pius Ujubuonu was appointed to the position of Acting National President, what Taiwo Mustapha called “Interim President”.
I want to let you know with facts and figures that in the year 2012 when the data protocol of ANLCA was being perfected and as it was then,  I was the ASECO Chairman.
 And Pius Ujubuonu came to me presenting a License for a corporate Company called MIRACLE VENTURES LTD.
Yes, that License as of the year the data was being processed in 2013, did not exist.
Pius Ujubuonu with ID card No WZ5100000083, the company did not exist.

So in the last ten years, Pius Ujubuonu does not have a license .

In the same vein, when you go to the Tin Can Island Chapter, where you have the list of corporate company members of ANLCA, you will find a company called DEJIDE INVESTMENT COMPANY LTD.

 The company has a gentleman called Jide as Director and principal officer, he employed Adeyinka Jamiu Ishola with staff ID card No WZ 2300000285.
It will interest you to know that four years ago, Mr. Jide passed away and the License has remained moribund.

 This is the same person Taiwo Mustapha appointed as Acting National Vice President of ANLCA.

He did not stop at that, just to cause more confusion in ANLCA, he went further to appoint another person to the position of Acting Financial Secretary of ANLCA.

The gentleman who is equally a clerk of a company called OMO- BOY INTERNATIONAL, a company whose Director is one late Alabi.

 Taiwo Mustapha appointed Gbadamosi  Waheed Badmus as Acting Financial Secretary of ANLCA. That makes three of them.

Another impostor is one Francis Ozemede Itua, who was also appointed by Taiwo Mustapha as Acting  National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA.

 Francis Itua is just a clerk with SEVEN86 IMPEX & ALLIED LIMITED.

This  Company has all its Directors to be Indians. So for Francis Itua to be issuing statements, calling himself, Acting NPS of ANLCA is not only dangerous but is criminal, full of mischiefs for him to be disclaimed so that the general public will know.

 As you are planning for the AGM, what will be your message to your members?

My message is simple, we need to bend backward, we need to move forward, and ANLCA needs to breathe.

All registered Corporate members of ANLCA with valid Licenses should come forward and register for the AGM.

It is the right of all Corporate members of ANLCA.

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Analyses

Dual clearing:The secret racket killing Single Window 

The portals are digital, but the greed remains completely manual.

The Monday Discourse with Nasiru Ibrahim  exposes the ‘Dual Clearing’ racket where manual verification loops completely neutralize the federal government’s National Single Window.

Read how deliberate extortion rings at the terminal gates are killing the ease of doing business and paralyzing Port efficiency.

The full strategic brief drops tomorrow morning!

Stay tuned

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Customs

Opposition mounts against proposed hike in licensing renewal fee by Customs as agents kick

–the timing is wrong  — Amiwero

–the rich will now hijack the clearing job– Musa

— the multinationals will have a field day — Mukaila

– lot of agents will be out of job-Otunba Komolafe 
– the economy will collapse — Barrister Ada Akpunonu 
Funso OLOJO 
There seems to an overwhelming unanimity in the resistance of the Customs Licensed Clearing Agents against the proposed hike in the licensing renewal fee by the Nigeria Customs Service.
On Thursday, August 7th, 2025, the management of the NCS muted the idea of a hike in licensing renewal fee when it was sensitizing the executives of the major freight forwarding groups in Abuja.
The agency told the freight forwarders that commencing from January 1st, 2026, the current renewal fee of N215, 000( 20k for the Headquarters and N15k processing fee for the commands) would be increased as the existing fee was no longer realistic in the face of the economic realities in the country.
However, a cross – section of the practicing customs brokers who spoke to our reporter on the proposed review were unsparing in their total rejection and condemnation of the proposal.
They were unanimous in their belief that the move by the customs authority was not only ill- timed, ill- conceived but it’s capable of sending many practitioners out of the business.
The customs brokers lamented the timing of the proposed hike when, according to them, they are still grappling with the challenges of multiple payment of charges and fees atvtge port.
They pointed out the reintroduction of the 4 percent fee on FOB on imported cargo, the high exchange rate and other taxes which they said are hurting the business.
They further claimed that the proposed hike will give a leeway to the money bags and the foreign multi- nationals to hijack the freight forwarding industry.
Dr Segun Musa, the Deputy National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) accused Customs of gradually turning the issue of licensing into cash and carry for the highest bidders.
He believed that obtaining customs license should be purely knowledge- based and not what should be procured with money.
“To me, I don’t think it’s a welcome development and I’m not subscribing to that” when asked of his reaction to the proposed hike.
“The industry should be more of knowledge-driven and not cash-driven.
I didn’t subscribe to it and definitely I won’t buy into it.
” The reality is not whether the current renewal fee is sustainable or
not sustainable. Ordinarily, we don’t suppose as practitioners, we’re not supposed to pay for license.
“We’re supposed to be registered and licensed based on knowledge.
“It should not be a commercialized thing. A customs licensing is not a commercialized venture, it is not a private venture for profit making.
“They generate revenue for government. But ordinarily, we’re supposed to be registered and licensed based on knowledge to facilitate trade.
” If we allow the financial bullion operators to hijack the industry, then they mess up the whole industry.
“It should be knowledge-driven. It should not be the highest bidder industry.
” It should be integrity platform. It should be knowledge platform, not money
back platform.
“You cannot push people that are trying to establish and advance their business out of the business. You don’t do that.
It’s not fair.
“I’m just waiting for the associations that have met with the CG to come out with there  own resolutions or their own brief before we can start engaging media and telling the media our own personal opinion.
” But definitely, it will not fly.
Alhaji Abdulaziz Mukaila, the former National Secretary Generals of the Association of Nigerian Customs Licensed Agents(ANLCA, was not less critical of the licensing renewal proposal.
” Where do they want us to get the money from? Do they want us to start to tax importers? the ANLCA Chieftain asked rhetorically.
“Are they giving us any subvention?
 Whereas, Customs is taking salary.
They are still taking budget allowance.
” Now they are taking 4 percent cent on FOB on cargo.
” The Customs is giving way to the fraudsters they claimed they wanted to weed out with this hike because the fraudsters will get the license at any amount because they know what they want to do with the license.
*Customs will only succeed in chasing out honest people out of the business, thus paving way to the dubious ones to take over.
“What are  they trying to
achieve?
” To shut the door and bring in foreign multinationals?
“Afterall, the customs now give licenses to the Chinese, Indians and Lebanese.
“With this new hike, these foreigners will now gain full control of the industry” the former ANLCA scribe alleged.
Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero, the factional President of National Council of Managing Directors of Customs Licensed Agents (NCMDLCA) believed that the proposed hike in licensing fee was ill- time at a time the Customs has just introduced 4 percent Free-on-Board (FOB) on imported cargo.
“I don’t think it is the right time for
them to renew, to increase license fees.
“It is the wrong time because the country is actually faced with a lot of challenges.
“The challenges are, one,exchange rates. A lot of people have lost their job. Even people cannot renew most of their licenses.
“When you look at the license renewal, it is based on the performance.
Many people might renew and after the whole thing,they don’t have any jobs to
do.
“So,I don’t think it is the right time for them because  as the customs was  renewing, is trying to bring
in 4% of FOB and so many charges.
“And this is going to hit the agents, hit the importers, hit the
manufacturers,hit the economy.
“When you increase, many of them cannot even move out from their homes.
The port is not a friendly place. A lot of things that are happening  at the port are not coordinated.
“More than 70% of people have left the port industry.
“So,customs should have reasons and seek opinion of people before they  start to increase.
“That money they are increasing is for their own .
“When the last time they reviewed the whole thing, I was in the forefront.
“The last time it was reviewed from N10,000 to N200,000” Amiwero declared.
Both Barrister Ada Akpunonu and Otunba Olasupo Komolafe of the ANLCA shared  similar sentiments on the issue.
Akpunonu seemed to be carefree about the issue because, according to her, the challenges which agents are facing at the port are overwhelming and frustrating.
She lamented that while the agents were battling with the charges of terminal operators, Customs came with the payment of 4 percent Free-on-Board (FOB) levy and now the hike in licensing fee renewal.
” I don’t want to talk about this issue.
If they like, let them increase, when the economy collapses , we shall all be affected”
” Let the Customs increase, those who have money will renew and those who don’t have will be thrown out of job and the rate of unemployment will increase” Akpunonu said in a tired tone.
Otunba Komolafe described the proposed hike as an additional burden on agents who are already groaning in pains over multiple charges at the port.
” Where do they want us to get money? Do they think we pick money on the ground? ,the ANLCA Chieftain asked rhetorically.
He said some agents may not be able to even utilize their license for a whole years due to lack of job.
He claimed that the hike will throw many out of the job.
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Freight Monitor

Amiwero mocks ANLCA, three other freight forwarding groups over plan not to pay POF.

— describes them as gathering of strange bedfellows 
Funso OLOJO 
The last is yet to be been heard of the intrigues, acrimony and bellyaching that greeted the court judgement which invalidated the payment of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fees (POF)by freight forwarders.
It could be recalled that the factional President of National Council of Managing Directors of Licenced Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Eyis Amiwero, secured a court victory against the payment of the POF by Customs brokers when on May 26th, 2025, Justice D.E Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos delivered a landmark judgment in a suit No Suit No. FHC/CS/765/2018 between NCMDLCA vs. 1. MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, 2. NPA and 3. CRFFN in which he declared the collection of the controversial POF illegal.
However, on Friday, June 18th, 2025, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents(ANLCA) led four out of the five freight forwarding groups registered with the Council for the Regulation of freight forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to announce their resolve to enforce the judgment of the Lagos High Court by stopping the payment of POF.
The other associations which allegedly connived with ANLCA to rebel against the  CRFFN included the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) and a factional National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA).
But Amiwero, who achieved the hard- won court victory over CRFFN, mocked the gathering of the four other associations, describing them as “strange bedfellows”.
”Just look at the gathering of these strange bedfellows, ganging up together to reap where they did not sow.
“A case of ‘my enemy, who is the enemy of my enemy, is now my friend.’
“When they slept on their rights and were busy fighting over the sharing formula of the POF, they never saw CRFFN action as illegal.
“Where were they when Lucky Amiwero single-handedly pursued the case and secured the judgment?
“Some of them even bashed Amiwero for challenging CRFFN, but now, have gathered to enjoy relief from another man’s struggle.
” Pushed by the frustration of not getting any share as CRFFN said that a Consultant fraudulently swallowed everything, they’ve now latched onto Amiwero’s court judgment, in revenge of those that outsmarted them in the Council’s politics and booties sharing” Amiwero declared in a derisive note.
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), which boycotted the meeting of the “strange bedfellows”, also dismissed the group as ” selfish and untrustworthy”
“The above ugly remarks by Mr. Lucky Eyis Amiwero concerning these individuals clearly portray them as untrustworthy and confused persons.
” They can best be described as a bunch of dribblers and directionless folks.
” We have waited to hear their reaction to these highly uncomplimentary remarks but discovered they lacked the wisdom to decode the weighty nature and the implications of Mr. Lucky’s comments, which completely smeared and eroded their credibility and made them interlopers in the industry” NAGAFF High Command declared.
NAGAFF, which reacted through its Board of Trustees (BOT)to the plan of the other registered freight forwarders over their plan to stop payment of the POF, has called in the CRFFN to deregister these rebellious groups while the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, should use legal instrument to ensure that the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) withdraw their Certificate of Registration.
NAGAFF claimed these  punitive measures became necessary because the group has committed economic sabotage against the Federal government by denying the government it’s revenue through their refusal to pay the POF.
“The Hon. Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, H.E Adegboyega Oyetola, is being encouraged to deregister forthwith the four ailing associations and move on to recommend to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to withdraw their certificates of registration based on threats to revenue due to government of the federation”, stated NAGAFF.
The association however believed that government should allow Amiwero and his group to exit the CRFFN platform in order to give peace a chance so that the CRFFN could collect the POF unhindered.
“The authorities should allow the factional President of NCMDLCA, Mr. Lucky Eyis Amiwero’s group and their accomplices to go as they wish and allow the CRFFN to face its mandate as provided by law.
“We are convinced that the CRFFN will stabilize and be more focused if these elements are granted their request to exit.
“We suspect that this group is being sponsored by the enemies of the state who are hell-bent on sabotaging the good efforts of the government.
“One of the worst crimes anyone can commit against the state is to deny the government its statutory revenue
” The antecedents of these groups in question had already portrayed them as non-progressive minds whose activities in the ports need to be watched” NAGAFF stated.
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