Anco to Strengthen Body

Members of the Association of Nigeria Courier Operators (Anco) have made a resolution to position the association to a formidable height that will serve the interest of most members. In a meeting held last Thursday at the Royal Guest House, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, the association reviewed its activities in the past year and identified areas of weakness with the aim to correcting them.
Larry Chinekezi, chairman board of trustees / treasurer of Anco and managing director of Tradeways Express during the meeting urged members to take a critical look at the association’s website now being hoisted and ensure that every registered member of the association has its company and logo appear on the website saying that such will help to advertise the company to the world and let people know that it is licensed. He also mentioned that brief profile about individual company was an important aspect of the website.
The association noted with appreciation the effort of the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) towards resolving some of the issues bothering it like the issue of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (Faan) asking courier operators to pay the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand naira to Faan before they are  allow ed to fly . The association noted that the Courier Consultative Forum (CCF) has been able to dialogue over such issues and made progress even in the area of police harassment as well. The association is planning to have its stickers that will be placed on vehicle of members for easy identification by the law enforcement agents.
The body decried illegal importation of materials into the country such as lace materials when such should actually be directed to the cargo shed instead of being fronted as courier material. The association said that the regulatory department, CRD had solicited members’ effort in identifying illegal courier operators for possible sanction.
Ralph Chikezie, managing director/ chief executive officer Union Express, a member of the Union Bank Group mentioned that the courier market was too large for a few companies to dominate and said that the Postal Commission will open way for a lot of other investors. Allowing investors come in the sector, according to him was a very good development even as urged courier operators to explore other areas of the industry instead of concentrating on registrar jobs which he said make up 70 percent of the industry’s business.
The association discussed the proposed Postal Bill and implored members to read critically the draft copy of the bill sent to them by the Bureau of Public Enterprises for the association to go through and send same back to Abuja for further action.
The body tinkered of an annual courier expo that will be used as an avenue to bring members together and create more awareness, members agreed to the suggestion and volunteers were made to choose the timing for the proposed annual event.
In as much as the need to create more awareness and activities were established, the exco urged members to pay their annual dues and said late payment of such dues would attract penalty.