Shipping business expert, Mr Lucky Eyis Amiwero stretches his Philanthropy gestures to building capacity in the clearing and forwarding business
By Innocent Chukwu
It was celebration galore at the 112 Road, D Close corporate office of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
The event was the round off of the three months Capacity Building Programme undertaken by the President of the Council and the Managing Director/CEO of Eyis Resources Limited, the indefatigable Lucky Amiwero. Participants at the training who were mostly members of the NCMDLCA, as well as their relatives and well wishers, had gathered at the venue to celebrate the successful completion of the capacity building initiative of Amiwero, as well as to obtain their certificates for the training.
Amiwero is a foremost shipping expert in the country who has proposed numerous policy ideas that have shaped Nigeria’s maritime business sector. Amiwero is a well read shipping magnate, highly connected, an instructor and a mentor to numerous shippers in the maritime sector. In the past one decade he has dedicated his life to coaching budding clearing and forwarding business men and women who are currently doing great in the industry.
Amiwero said the three months training attracted no payment from the trainees because it is his own way of giving back to God the gifts and talents He bestowed upon him. To Amiwero, using his acquired skills to enrich humanity is giving honour to his magnanimous Creator.
Hence, as Amiwero admonished the graduating trainees, he said, “When you set up a company just to make money, you are not glorifying God who gave you the talent to establish that company. I use Eyis Resources Limited, my private firm to glorify God through capacity building. Why is it only Lucky Amiwero that is building capacity? It is because when you think of humanity you’re glorifying God.
“What are you contributing in your community? The essence of you being rich is to assist the poor because God said the poor must be taken care of. So, God gave us money to use it to help the poor and bring Him glory.
“When you’re living for humanity, nobody knows your tribe or religion. Your time and knowledge are given to you to enrich mankind. The greatest happiness comes when you do good to others. The greatest good is the one you do without expecting anything in return.
“We have been giving a divine assignment such that our heart must not be evil. I started lecturing in 1996, since then I’ve not stopped doing it even for free. We must let our good reflect when we’re alive so that people will talk good about us while we’re alive.
“Here at the Council, we’re not freight forwarders, we’re licensed customs agents. We’re trained procedure experts, our work is to classify, interpret and treat documents as customs brokers.
“Our profession is not political, the National Council was established to train professionals, that is why we arranged this programme. We are linked up with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Hence, we can look at cargo and analyse it”.
Stating the objective of the training, Amiwero said the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) which is part of the Nigeria Customs new Act, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the procedure and application in the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023, the complexity of the Act, procedure in the WTO, WCO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), were all that necessitated the three months training.
The training covered over 47 related business areas. At the end of the ceremony, certificates were awarded to the deserving members of the Council who said they were excited to be part of the training.
