…Assures relief from challenges facing members
Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa Mohammed, yesterday emerged as the new Chairman of the Metropolitan Unit of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO during a meeting held at the Secretariat annex of the association in Lagos.
He succeeds Alhaji Sani Abubakar who resigned his position as a result of old age.
Others elected alongside with him are: Alhaji Raji Yunusa Abiodun – Deputy Chairman I; Mohammed Guhja Ebet – Deputy Chairman II; Mr. Victor Nnotum – Secretary; Mr. Jacob Onoja – Assistant Secretary; Alhaji Abdulrasheed Ibrahim – Vice Chairman Up Country; Mr. Afolabi Afolayan – Vice Chairman on Export Port Operations and Mr. Sadisu Mustapha – Vice Chairman Import.
Others include: Mohammed Gujibau Talba – Vice Chairman Containerized Up Country Operations; Yusuf A. Mohammed – Vice Chairman Up Country Port Operations; Suleiman Ismail B. – Treasurer; Mr. Samuel Adole – Financial Secretary; Abdullahi Sulaiman – Assistant Financial Secretary; Mr. Friday Paul – Head of Operations; Kamal Bakare A. Abubakar – Organizing Secretary; Garba Umaru Abubakar – PRO; Mohammed Lawan Danjuma – Auditor; Alhaji Babayo Haruna – Welfare; Atom Jubrin Tom – Chief Whip; Alhaji Sani Abubakar – Patron I; AA Abubakar – Patron II and Mr. Ikechukwu Ugwu Felix – Ex-officio.
In his valedictory speech, the immediate past Chairman of the Metropolitan Unit, NARTO, Alhaji Sani Abubakar thanked the association for the opportunity given to him to serve the association adding that he had done his bit and it’s now time for a more younger person to take over from him.
“That’s why we are having this meeting to elect a new Chairman and the executive and so, at the end of the meeting, NARTO and the Metropolitan executive will assign a new role to me”, Abubakar said while calling for support of members to enable the new executive succeed.
Harping on the need to shun ethnicity, the immediate past Chairman urged members not to be concerned about the ethnic background of anyone but to focus more on capacity saying, “anybody who is capable to do something right, let us support him.”
In his acceptance speech shortly after his election, the new Chairman of Metropolitan Unit of NARTO, Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa Mohammed observed that a big task was waiting for him and his executive even as he insisted that they won’t be able to succeed without the collective efforts of other members of the unit and the association in general.
Calling for prayers, support and cooperation from the members, Mohammed said, “we are determined and focused to serve you, protect your business interest as our members and to equally join hands together with the national secretariat led by the National President, Alhaji Yusuf Lawal Othman to promote our great association.
“We pray and seek for Almighty Allah guidance and wisdom to guide us all so that we can contribute our own quota to the legacies of our founding members, their legacies left behind will not be in vain. I want to assure you all that with the support of the National Secretariat, myself and my exco members will work hard for a relief from the challenges facing our members’trucks and our drivers in the state, its environs and the maritime corridors.
“Our doors are open to our members and other stakeholders to come forward with any useful input that will assist for the progress of the organization and the country at large.”
Speaking shortly after inaugurating the new executive, the General Manager, Operations, NARTO, Mr. Stephen Okafor observed that the Metropolitan Unit of NARTO under the national secretariat needed to be reorganized and reactivated as the former leadership of the unit was aging hence the need to bring younger ones to pilot the affairs of the Unit.
“I am happy the able bodied men have been elected into exco of the Metropolitan and I am sure that with the caliber of personalities that we have onboard now, the workforce will not be a problem. Our achievement will not be a problem but all I am asking for and begging is teamwork, transparency and commitment.
“For you to come here and collect certificate for one position or the other, it’s not a child’s play, you have to live up to expectations. You have to live up to your responsibility. Day and night, whenever you are called, if the need arises for you to be there, you have to be there and that is only when we can succeed.
“Please, I want to encourage us and I know that the new Chairman in the person of Alhaji Inuwa is a capable, experienced and dogged fighter, he will not give room for any nonsense. And I am also very optimistic and sure that the team surrounding him is a formidable team and that you will to a large extent, achieve the goals and the objectives of the association. The objectives of the National Secretariat is your objectives, you don’t have separate objectives”, he admonished.
Okafor, however, described the meeting as timely given the pronouncement by the federal government to make some agricultural produce import duty free for one hundred and fifty days (150) to boost food security in the country.
“We are begging and praying to God that that pronouncement be sustained and if it is sustained, it is kudos to all of us. It is good for all of us. We will all smile at it. But we cannot smile if we are not together and united and that is what has given rise to this occasion today”, he stated.
Photo 1: (L-R): Alhaji Sani Abubakar, immediate past Chairman, Metropolitan Unit, NARTO, Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa Mohammed, newly elected Chairman, Metropolitan Unit, NARTO and General Manager, Finance, NARTO during the Inauguration in Lagos Wednesday.
Photo 2: A cross section of National Secretariat Staff, newly elected executive and patrons of Metropolitan Unit, NARTO after the inauguration in Lagos Wednesday.
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