Am a ladies man; I like ladies as a normal person — Ajuzie.

Dr. Fred Ajuzie is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pat Fuse Consult Limited, a freight forwarding outfit.

He was the immediate past chairman of the Apapa chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).

He left the position after completing his two terms of four years each. Even though he is above sixty years of age, he still looks radiant and fashionable.

He has been in the practice of Freight Forwarding for 28 years starting as a young man.

Ajuzie, is the publisher of the defunct Port Evidence maritime newspaoer, he likes socialising with both young and old.

Meet our maritime lifestyle personality of the week.

Early days

My name is Fred Ajuzie, I am from Umahia in Abia state.

I started my schooling from my state. I attended both primary and secondary schools in my village. I later proceeded to Institute of Management Technology (IMT) in Enugu.

I like white colours because it depicts that you are neat and pure in heart. White colour is not easy to maintain and whoever you see putting on white, it signifies that the person has pure heart.

My favourite food used to be fried plantain and rice but now that I am getting older, I run from sugary foods. I now drink tea.

How do you relax?
As a freight forwarder, our jobs are very herculean, we sometimes work round the clock, we hardly have time to relax. It may be when you are relaxing that you will be called that your container is being held somewhere due to the traffic in the road.
But I still find time to relax by going to lounge and every Saturday and Sunday, I relax at home with my family, I don’t go out at all.

I give the weekends to my family because most times, I don’t stay with them during the week because of the nature of the work.

Do you do ladies?
I am sixty years plus; I don’t talk about ladies. I am a ladies man and I like ladies as a normal person because any man who doesn’t like ladies is not normal but now, anyone that comes around may be looking for a job.

However, once in a while, I have that challenge but I have to control myself because I am no longer a baby.
I have three children; two boys and one girl. One is in Europe and the other two are here.

How did you get into freight forwarding?
I started from a very young age. It was when I finished secondary school. I had an in-law who was a manager in Water Glass in Port Harcourt and from there, the interest came.

When I discovered that the business was a lucrative one, I joined because I like money.

I left in 1990 when I went to study and I came back because I like being self-employed and one of the things that attracted me was that you can start it if you don’t have much capital.

It is not a business that requires millions of naira to start off. If it requires so much capital to start it, most of us would not have gone into it. It is now that you can invest because you must have made money.
I have been in the practice for 28 years now.

What can you say you have benefited from the job?

All my life I have been in the business and I have done all from the business.
Let me tell you that all a man should have as a blessing in life, I have gotten it.

How have you impacted on people’s lives?

I have been impacting on people’s lives but the one that is very pronounced is when I took over the leadership of NAGAFF as a chairman. In the first four years, I brought them to be part of NAGAFF. In my second term, I brought about 509 people to be part of NAGAFF. Some of them are still in NAGAFF, some now practise freight forwarding and some of them have made money from the industry and have travelled out of the country for greener pasture.

I don’t blow my own trumpet.