EMBRACING IT, TRAINING, RETRAINING WILL MAKE US BETTER FREIGHT FORWARDERS – COM. BERNARD O. UDO.

The Chairman National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Comrade Bernard Onyeka Udo Expresses his view on a wide range of issues, including his relationship with MMIA Customs Command and most importantly his desire to ensure that NAGAFF members at the Nation’s Gateway reap bountifully from their trade by becoming IT compliant and Technology Driven. Read the complete interview with Jerry Agugbo, Dili Utomi and Victoria Silvanus.

Mr. Chairman sir, how can you assess the business of Freight Forwarding at the MMIA this year 2019?

Well, the business is moving, you know this is the Nation’s gate way to the rest of the world, as an International Airport we are not complaining so much. You know the lull in Business can be explained, this is an election period and whenever there is politics in the air you should expect the twists and turns because the International Business Community is watching to know what will happen and because of the uncertainties, money will not flow freely and when that happens, business is negatively affected.

What is your administration’s relationship with the members, how does your exco relate with your members and what is your relationship with other exco members.?

Ours is a cohesive and closely knit unit, we work together and we make sure that all complaints from members are treated appropriately, no member is favoured against another and we make sure that all members are carried along as best as we know. As for the exco members, you can verify by yourself, they are all here to contribute their quota to the well-being and success of our administration.

How about the customs, how do you guys relate with them, is your relationship cordial?

Yes, we have a stable relationship with the customs command, so long as you do an honest declaration, you will never have any problem with the Customs and when any problem does arise, we the Leadership approach the various units Heads to try and solve it. There is also the stakeholders meeting which are called monthly by the MMIA Customs Command aimed at sorting knotty issues and to also brief us of new measures aimed at facilitating trade at the nations Gateway. The Controller, Comptroller Shoboiki is doing her best and we are grateful to her. As you also know we the Freight Forwarders are the ones who generate the revenues.

So how is business, in terms of volume and value of business at the Airport ?

Well, as it is now, things are not the way they used to be say two years back but I think we are adjusting and I know things will gradually come back to normal as we try to adapt to some of the new policies which affected business negatively. Government should make policies that will have a human face, this will be seen in the way they affect the populace positively both in their implementation and the policy itself.

How long have you been in office sir, and what has been the experience ?

By April we will be one year in office by the Grace of God. The Airport is a peculiar place with about 3 or more associations and we all do things in common and as it is now, one of our sister Associations is about having their elections and with that, the political atmosphere at the Airport is charged. However, we are gradually settling down.

So sir, where do you see NAGAFF, Airport Chapter in the next one year ?

I see a much improved and vibrant Association, with all hands on deck to continue to move NAGAFF to greater heights both in terms of value derived from being a member of the Airport Chapter by membership and Association. We continue to be steadfast in doing our business, being IT compliant will also help us in no small measure because NAGAFF members are the ones who facilitate trade and much of the revenue generated are facilitated by vibrant marketing ideas and dealings with manufacturers and importers alike. Training and development are part of our core values and we will continue to train and retrain our members to be abreast of new developments and technologies in the trade because Freight Forwarding is an International Concept.