The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Bayelsa/Rivers State Branch, Port Harcourt, has honoured some captain of industry at their annual 2012 Dinner, held at the Beverly Hill Hotels, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on the 6th of December, 2012.
The launch of Freight Forwarder’s Handbook, written by Oputa Frnacis Mberekpe, was among the highlights of events that took place that day. It was indeed a night to behold, as the institute deemed it fit to honour Mr. Dele Alabi, Port Manager, Nigerian Ports Authority, Rivers State, Mrs. Obude, NPA, Rivers State, Commissioner for Transport, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Rivers State, Mr. Somiari Isaac, Nelson Jaja, Comptroller of TIMARIV, Rivers State, amongst others, for their contributions in transportation and logistics.
In his remarks, Mr. Dele Alabi, Port Manager, NPA, Rivers State, one of the award recipients, said it was great that the little efforts that they made in working with the executive and members of the Institute were being appreciated. He maintained that with the handling of certain affairs of the economy by professionals that the country will continue to make waves.
Alabi debunked the insinuations that Port Harcourt Port is dried, saying that it does not mean that because a port handles containers and the other does not, meant that the one that does not handle containers is disadvantaged.
He stated further that every port has its capacity, just as the Port Harcourt Port, has a capacity of 3 million metric tons yearly, adding that have exceeded to 4 million metric tons in a succession of 4 years now. Dele was optimistic that containers will come at the appropriate time, pointing that container is just a mode of packaging to facilitate transportation.
However, Mr. Nelson Jaja, comptroller of Rivers State TIMARIV, another recipient of the award, expressed that he felt good and humble to be recognized by people, giving him a task to do more. On his effort to improve on the performance of his staff, he affirmed of training and retraining of his staff on regular bases to ensure quality service delivery.
Reacting to the issue of higher charges on traffic offenders, Jaja opined that they don’t change arbitrarily, but only enforcing a schedule of the law. He advised the public to go to the State House of Assembly to present whatever issue they have as regards their services.
He thereby advised motorists to drive cautiously, have proper checks on their vehicles before applying the road, and to always obey traffic laws, adding that TIMARIV staff will come out stronger this season to arrest and dealt with traffic offenders.
Speaking to journalists, shortly after the lunch of his book at the event, Mr. Opuata Francis Mberekpe, a member of the Institute, disclosed that he was motivated to write the book, Freight Forwarder’s Hand book, having found that there was no literature in Freight Forwarding, for upcoming Freight Forwarders.
He used the medium to call on government to recognize the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport as a professional body, just like it has done to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ICAN and others, to help boost the quality of service delivery in the transport sector.
Mgberekpe described the dynamism of Freight Forwarding as one of the challenges that he faced while writing the book, pointing changes in policies of government amongst others as reason for the delay of the publication, not earlier as he expected.
He was of the view that his book will have the impact of teaching upcoming Freight Forwarder’s everything that they need to know about the business, without looking for a mentor or being charged by colleagues to impact the knowledge of the business to them, and as a guide in carrying out their daily businesses.
By Blaise Elumezie
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