As part of efforts to boost productivity of members of staff, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) organized its maiden staff induction and orientation training exercise in Lagos, today.
The training exercise was organized by CRFFN in collaboration with IBS Grand Technologies Limited and supervised by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation/ Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. (Mrs.) Magdalene Ajani.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines, the Permanent Secretary who was represented by the Ministry’s Director of Human Resource Management, Mrs. Tetshoma Dafeta, described the induction course as “a good start in public service”
According to Dafeta, the exercise also helps in minimizing the mistakes of civil servants and generally contributes to boosting the morale of the workers.
Her words: “Most people come into public service without knowing the rules guiding their engagements and their work. They may not know what their responsibilities are and what is the government’s responsibility towards them. So, when we have this induction training, it puts the workforce on a good footing as they get to know what they are to do and what to expect from the government. With this training, the workers won’t make too many mistakes because they are guided on how to do the right things.”
“I always harp on the Public Service Rules (PSR) because these are the guidelines for all government employees. When I joined the public service about 31 years ago, I learnt about Official Secret, how not to discuss government business in a public gathering.”
Dafeta congratulated the management of CRFFN for organizing the training programme which is the first in the history of the Council, even as she encouraged the Council to keep organizing such trainings to improve the output of the Council.
She observed that the issues public servants had to contend with at work 25 years ago aren’t the same with the realities today, stressing that the Ministry of Transportation no longer thrives on paperwork.
“We do our work online as we no longer carry files; but people have to be trained to be able to keep up with advancements to improve productivity and deliver better service,” she added.
Earlier, the Acting Registrar, CRFFN, Mrs. Chinyere Uromta, posited that the training would help mould the character and competence of the Council’s workers for effective operations.
Uromta argued that if Nigerian freight forwarders would ever attain the global best standards obtainable in developed countries, CRFFN staff must provide quality leadership and regulatory services which will be enhanced by the training.
“Normally in Civil Service setting, there is always the need for orientation and trainings like this to enable the workers know why they are there, the ethics and rules guiding their activities,” Uromta said.
In a bid to ensure the CRFFN staff are abreast with the Public Service Rules (PSR), the Acting Registrar announced that the Council’s management had procured the PSR and CRFFN for all members of staff for free to enable them perform optimally.
“CRFFN is a regulatory body for freight forwarders and it has evolved to become a revenue generating agency for the government. Stakeholders involved in import/ export are our practitioners and the CRFFN Act mandated us to professionalize the sector. CRFFN is also the representative of these stakeholders at the global level at FIATA. How do we achieve these ideals for creating the agency? We would have to do that by training the members of staff at the agency. That’s the rationale behind this training,” she opined.
The CRFFN boss equally thanked the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Hon. Adegboyega Oyetola and the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani for providing quality leadership and support to the Council.
On his part, the Lead Consultant, IBS Grand Technologies Limited, Mr. Samuel Abalaka stated that the training will help the participants understand the rules, culture, values and ethics of public service.
“This training will provide the staff with a comprehensive overview of key concepts relating to administrative processes and procedures in the public service to good work-flow and day-to-day management of the office. For this purpose, the training is necessary and required to give participants not only skill and knowledge but also the confidence to execute assigned duties,” he said.
Five topics were selected for the training. They were; The Public Service: Structure, Functions, Principles and Core Values; Rules Governing the Operations of the Public Service; Overview of Financial Regulations; Code of Conduct and Ethics in the Public Service; and Effective Communication in the Public Service.
Resource persons for each of programmes were drawn from a network of competent experts with relevant knowledge, skills and experience from both public and private sector backgrounds.