Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, Managing Director, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), has urged its management team to build a sustainable mentorship programme for all staff to entrench stronger team work and professionalism.
Adesugba made the remark, in his address of welcome, at a dinner to mark the opening of NEPZA’s Management Retreat in Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory.
In a statement by Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, on Saturday, explained that the obvious gaps in service delivery in most establishments were traceable to the inability of top management to build virile succession plans.
According to him, the only antidote to forestall external sourcing for the directorate cadre was to deliberately promote the transfer of requisite knowledge to younger officers.
“I am a team player and I also enjoy impacting on my staff. This is the right attitude of professionalism that can help sustain the gains we are making.
“We must henceforth open up more to those working under us with a view to transferring knowledge of the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) operations at that rung of the ladder.
“Let us endeavour to build succession plans for the Authority’’, Adesugba said.
He also urged the team to use the period to regenerate, at the retreat with the theme: “Ideas of Change Executive Retreat 2021’’, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
The identified conversation topics were: Strategic Planning and Budgeting; Problem Solving Techniques; Developing and Tracking of Annual Goals: Monitoring and Evaluation; Team building; Corporate Governance and NEPZA Executive Session, among others.
In another development, the Authority has won the Award of Industrial Development Excellence from the Organised Private Sector represented by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI)
The award, which was conferred at the inauguration of the new ACCI President, Dr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, in Abuja, recognised NEPZA’s tremendous contributions to industrial and economic development.
These feats, ACCI noted, manifested in the growing contributions of the Authority to tax revenues, the widening of the national industrial base and increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the FTZs.
The feats also included the development of new free trade zones on medical, agriculture and cotton among others.
The ACCI also observed with deep interest the systematic reforms of the FTZs sector which were reflected in the ongoing huge investment the Federal Government was making in the Kano and Calabar free zones, respectively.
Within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the ACCI management stated that NEPZA should be supported in its vision to expand the country’s industrial production capacity to compete on the continent.
Adesugba, however, said the award was for President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who provided leadership and direction for all the accomplishments NEPZA had recorded thus far.
