By Kenneth Jukpor
As the elections into the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) draws nearer, Hon. Princess Chi Ezeh has encouraged voters to cast their votes for problem-solvers.
Princess made this remark while speaking with journalists at the weekend, stressing that the CRFFN Governing Board should be occupied by people who are knowledgeable and willing to address the myriad of challenges affecting freight forwarding in Nigeria.
While seeking support for her candidacy at the polls which holds in Abuja on Wednesday, she revealed that under her guidance as the Chairperson of the CRFFN Registration Committee, the number of registered practitioners grew by over 60 percent.
Her words: “I was able to create awareness through multiple programmes to increase the number of freight forwarders registered by CRFFN. In terms of new registrations at CRFFN, the increase is more than 60 percent.”
While there has been a recent increase because of the upcoming elections, she stressed that the improvement she referred to occured before the current rush ahead of the elections.
“Most of the newly registered practitioners have their diploma or Bachelor’s degree. The older ones were encouraged to get their diplomas through CRFFN and more will be brought onboard because we are professionals. We also strategically focused on getting young ones and women onboard because freight forwarding shouldn’t be left for just the older generation. While we appreciate the legacy that the older generation has created in this industry, there is a dire need to have more young people come into this profession with innovative approaches, passion and diligence.”
“Some women also think that this is the men’s business, but that’s not true. It has been a wonderful experience for me as a woman in freight forwarding and it is a hugely lucrative business. There is a place for women in this practice and women are also needed on the CRFFN Governing Board,” she said.
Princess holds the record as the first woman to serve as a Governing Board member of CRFFN and she described the experience as a great and rewarding venture.
“I was a privileged to serve as the first woman on the Governing Board of CRFFN during the last administration. It was a great experience for me. Women are better managers of resources and people. We are naturally better mediators and problem solvers. This was a role I played at the last governing board because there were issues that could have divided the board but I collaborated with the men to nip some of these problems in the bud,” she added.
Princess, however, described her candidacy as quality representation, pragmatic leadership, industry growth and result-oriented strategies.
According to her, a second stint as a Governing Board member would be an opportunity to make more significant contributions to the growth of CRFFN and the freight forwarding sector at large.
“One area we will focus on is to improve capacity of the freight forwarders in the industry, especially at a time Customs is reforming and there is a dire need for the freight forwarding practitioners to be on the same wavelength with Customs and other innovative technology,” she posited.
