*Mrs. Hariratu Maina Mohammed

It was a combination of praises to the Almighty God, deep reflection and show of emotions at a colourful send-off party organised in honour of the outgoing General Manager, Human Resources of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mrs. Hariratu Maina Mohammed, who retired after a fulfilling career with the authority.

Jointly put together by the NPA Sports Association NIPOSA, and the NPA Sports Club at the NPA Sports Ground located on Bode Thomas, Surulere, Lagos, Saturday, the event featured a novelty football match between the NPA Club and the Older Men in NPA and other athletic events, including a relay race to celebrate the exit of Mrs. Mohammed, who doubles as the Chair Person of Central NIPOSA.

Mrs. Mohammed, who spoke with our Correspondent in an exclusive interview shortly after a grand send-off party in her honour, expressed appreciation to the Almighty God for the long journey, saying the day, which she described as memorable stood as both a day of fulfilment and a day to remember and one that also serves as an icing that ended her career with the authority.

She recalled that there were obvious challenges, some of which made her stronger and remained who God made her to be, which is to serve Him through people and strongly holding to her philosophy of fairness to all and doing her job always with diligence.

According to her, commitment to serving God by serving humanity remained strong and her guiding principle with the strong belief that whatever one does while on that exalted office has a way of coming back to the person directly or indirectly to his or her children or even relations, which is instructive for one to be fair and nice to all while on the saddle.

Mrs. Mohammed, outgoing Chair Person, NIPOSA performs her last official function with the presentation of trophy to the winning football team at the event.

“Today is memorable, a day of fulfilment and an icing that ends my career in NPA, it is a thing of joy and gratitude to God for seeing me through. There were challenges along the line, but I refuse to describe them as nasty because there must always be extras to ordinaries and in life, you must face challenges without which you cannot gather the experience.

“I call them trials because in life you cannot be a hero without challenges but it has pleased God to allow me to overcome those challenges even in a gallant manner”

On what she would have done differently if she came back as a staffer in NPA, she said she would remain a personnel officer, which gives her the opportunity of meeting her heart desire of serving God through serving humanity, adding that her retirement is a well-deserved one, which she also plans to enjoy with her family.

On her piece of advice to the management of the authority and other members of staff, while praising the management, she said that the current management has specifically implemented workers’ welfare policies and programmes that no one has implemented since 2012, urging them do even more while charging the workers to remain diligent and committed to their job.

“My advice to my colleagues, who are still in service, they should exhibit high level of patience, serve God by serving humanity and be diligent in all your dealings. You must know that that dot you are about to put on the paper in front of you has a way of affecting someone’s life and somehow, such comes back to the person directly or indirectly to relations even children, so you should be fair and humane in service.

“To the management, my piece of advice is for you to continue to improve the welfare and wellbeing of the workforce, which is the greatest assets of any organisation, which is also the best way to achieve and retain productivity and loyalty, which are key to success”.

Husband to the celebrant, Alhaji Mohammed, who also spoke in an interview, expressed appreciation to God that his wife went through her public service career in NPA and came out successful, healthy and sound without issues.

 While recalling that he had to go through some inconveniences for his wife to achieve and get to the peak of her career, he noted that apart from the mercy of God, his wife’s commitment to fairness and equity at all times significantly account for her ability to succeed.

Team Manager, NIPOSA, Mr. Charles Okaga, who also spoke at the side line of the event, extolled the virtues of fairness, firmness, openness and love for sports of the outgoing Chairperson of Central NIPOSA, noting that the entire sports community in NPA would miss her for these virtues.

Mr. Okaga, who is Principal Manager, Marine and Operations and Technical Assistant to the Managing Director on Marine and Operations said: “Mrs. Mohammed’s tenure as the Chairperson of NIPOSA was very short but eventful and successful. Apart from being open to advice and other opinions on issues, when madam believes in a thing she pursues it to a logical conclusion to the extent that she convinced the management to approve our participation at the last sports festival for Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs’ in which NPA came first among over 161 MDAs in Nigeria on the medals table.

“She established the NPA sports Hall of Fame for achievers in order to keep records. We will miss her for her passion for sports, humane, trusting nature, charisma, go-getting spirit and we expect her successor to also have these qualities, especially being passionate about sports, which would be a major driving force”.

A highpoint of the celebration was the cutting of the anniversary cake where family members, friends, well-wishers and colleagues joined her in photo festival as well as presentation of gifts.