“As senior officers in the Ministries, we need to balance our tasks with these relaxation skills as this will help to promote sound mind and physical health which are relevant to productivity”- Dr Idris Shuaibu, Director, Legal Services, Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
A 3-day National Review Tariff Committee meeting was organised for 20 senior management level staff within the Federal Ministries and its Agencies in Kaduna from August 25-27 2016. The meeting, which was sponsored by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), aimed to produce a clear policy framework which will help to formulate ECOWAS’s Common External Tariff (CET) for member countries. Participants engaged in policy review sessions which touched on regional economic integration and trade.
Gede was engaged in the meeting to deliver its ‘Managing Stress in the Workplace Programme’ to participants in order to help them develop personalized stress management techniques to cope with their work-related tasks. The workshop objectives were achieved through a combination of technical and stress management sessions. The implications of work-related stress to senior staff members such as in the Committee were highlighted using presentations, discussions and practical demonstration of workplace relaxation and stress relief techniques by Samuel Jinadu (Clinical Psychologist from Karu Behavioural Medicine Unit), Bassant Ram (a freelance Yoga Instructor) and Gede’s Godwin Etim. Issues covered during the innovative sessions included an overview of stress, causes and signs, identification of stressors, setting clear boundaries, stress and time management, strategies for relaxation and work-life balance, treatment pathways, dealing with stigmatization and practical yoga sessions.
At the end of the 3-day workshop, participants’ knowledge, attitude and practices related to managing stress in the workplace were significantly enhanced using the different approaches as they were also provided with basic hints in which these techniques could continue beyond the workshop. Participants were able to link stress and its significance to productivity as mentioned below-
‘Stress management techniques are vital, especially, forsecurity Agencies like the Custom Service whose duty is to regulate regionaltrade andalso inpossession offire arms along the Country’s borders which is obviously tasking’-Mr Ayalogu, Assistant Controller of Customs.
In order to discuss the programme and arrange a booking, you can contact Godwin Etim via 07030070934 if you want to experience Gede’s Stress Management Programme.