In order to further keep its members abreast of acceptable international standards in freight forwarding practice, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) is set to commence a professional innovation and in-house workshop for all freight forwarding practitioners in Nigeria.
The programme, which is aimed at empowering NAGAFF members, is being organised in collaboration with the Ports and Terminal Management Academy of Nigeria (POTEMAN) and it is billed to take off next month at the national headquarters of the association in Apapa, Lagos.
Speaking exclusively with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, the National President of NAGAFF, Mr. Eugene Nweke gave the theme of the workshop as: “General Agreement on Trade and Tariff: The role of Freight Forwarders”.
Eugene explained that the training programme is going to be a continuous one and that it is being subsidized by the association.
According to him, NAGAFF is only kicking off the training in partnership with POTEMAN for now, and from there it will extend it to using other known training institutions and academies in the maritime sector.
“It is not limited to POTEMAN, we have other academies out there, but we must start with one of them first, we want to let our members know that these academies you see out there are not just there for nothing. We will start with POTEMAN; from there we will go to Freight Forwarders Academy, the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS) and so on”
Explaining the reason behind putting up this subsidized training programme, the NAGAFF president maintained that it is all about awareness, to let freight forwarders know what the world is saying, of what is happening in the international trade environment and as well as to keep them abreast with it.
“We are trying to empower NAGAFF members, capacity building is not just to give somebody a position to occupy, part of it is to train and retrain that person, keeping the person abreast of information that concerns his profession as it is obtained globally”
“As an organisation and a professional body, it behooves on us to give directions by way of impacting positively on our members, because whatever knowledge you acquire is not a waste” Nweke said.
He however pointed out that the training programme does not have anything to do with the one that is being proposed by the apex regulatory body; the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
“We are doing this as part of our own empowerment while the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria will be doing the consolidation” he explained.
Also speaking with our correspondent about the upcoming workshop, the registrar of the Port and Terminal Academy of Nigeria (POTEMAN) Dr. Babatunde Samuel explained that each participant at the programme is required to pay the sum of N5, 000.
According to him, the speakers at the program include; the NAGAFF President, Mr. Eugene Nweke, Registrar of the Freight Forwarders Academy of Nigeria (FFAN) Dr. Joseph Anabaraonye, as well as the Public Relations Officer of the Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Custom Service, Mr. Chris Osunkwo.
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