By Bon Peters
As the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents ANLCA braces up for the February 2025,election, an ANLCA chieftain and the incumbent General Secretary of the Association at Onne seaport chapter, Deacon Chinedu Ikenga has promised to be the voice of ANLCA at Onne Seaport chapter where he is contesting for the chairmanship position
Disclosing this recently during the unveiling of his 7 Point Agenda in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, Ikenga said “I firmly believe that every member of ANLCA in general and Onne Chapter in particular deserves a voice, and I am committed to be that voice for each and every one of you.”
Ikenga who has described ANLCA as a place of learning, growth and development promised to continue on that part even as he added that such values should be the touchstone for anybody who aspires to be the chairman at Onne Seaport chapter.
Relying on his accessibility, humility, honesty, integrity, inclusiveness, commitment, dedication and uprightness, industry watchers and stakeholders believe that Deacon Chinedu Ikenga is the man for the top job all things being equal.
Deacon, Chinedu Ikenga, who is the Group Chairman/CEO of Prestige Associates Ltd, presented the following as his 7 point Agenda: Prioritization of members’ needs and concerns; Create a safe and inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and valued.
Others include promotion of policies that promote a friendly and conducive environment for business to thrive through a robust constant engagement with relevant government agencies and critical stakeholders at the ports.
To ensure that ANLCA becomes a better place where members’ interests are protected for business to thrive both at the port and outside
He said that for members to get involved in whatever the association is doing and make a difference they must be backed up with sufficient knowledge of the freight forwarding profession, hence training and retraining would be cardinal in his programme as he would collaborate with Customs and other resource avenues to ensure members are knowledgeable to face the current realities.
He promised to create opportunities that would guarantee members’ welfare and well-being through the promotion of a culture of kindness, respect and empathy.
Knowing that leadership is a continuum, Ikenga who many agents see as a servant leader, according to our correspondent, promised to sustain and improve on the foundation led by previous administrations for the betterment of the association and its members even as he urged members to vote so as to make the association where every member feels valued, heard, and empowered to succeed while he enjoined them not to sacrifice objectivity on the altar of sentiment.
As a follow up to the unveiling of the manifesto, Deacon Chinedu Ikenga has embarked on visitation of some of the government agencies at the ports such as the Nigeria Customs Service Area 11 Command Onne, where he paid a courtesy visit to the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Babandede, The Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, West African Container Terminal (WACT,) Onne Multipurpose Terminal (OMT) Ports Police among others.
