Nkem Cookey John is an expert in the cargo sub sector of Nigeria’s Aviation industry. He has traversed every part of cargo operations, having grown through the ranks from bottom to top. He holds the traditional chieftaincy title of OMEZIRIHE 1 of Uratta in Imo State, South East of Nigeria. Today he sits as the MD/CEO of 3 Seed investment Limited an active player in the cargo sector in Nigeria.
He is a man with a large heart and huge capacity for love and service, hence the many philanthropic gestures to his ancestral community and the lager society. He has continued to make his mark in the industry and has become a voice championing the need for positive reforms by the government that will grow indigenous cargo operations for the common good. In this exclusive interview, he shares his wealth of experience and expert opinions gathered during his 23 years sojourn in the industry with our readers in an honest no holds barred manner. To the reader, His captivating story makes for a refreshing read while to the cargo industry, his name and his company 3 Seed are simply a breath of fresh air.
His story as he welcomes us into his world, will definitely motivate and inspire people to rise above the never- ending obstacles that will always be there. He is our personality of the week.
Read on……………
Lets meet you
My names are Nkem Cookey John by the special grace of God I am an Igbo man from Imo State, Owerri North Local Government precisely, I’m a complete Uratta man ad I hold the traditional Chieftaincy title in Uratta as the Omezirihe 1 of Ihiteoha Uratta autonomous community. Nkem Cookey is born into a family of four, I’m the first child and I had my educational career all in the eastern part of this country before coming out to Lagos to look for greener Pasteur. I am married with three lovely kids, two girls and a boy; I would say I’m blessed because Nkem Cookey was born in the month of November, so this month is my birthday precisely the fourth week is my birthday the 23rd of November. Incidentally everybody around me, my kids hovers around my birthday my girls are in November and my son is January.
When did your career in aviation begin?
I started my aviation career 23 years ago the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company {NAHCO} as a baggage handler that grew up from the ranks to a clerk before leaving NAHCO after four years. I started in 2001 and left NAHCO in 2004. In 2005 I joined Merchant Express Cargo Airlines the handlers of Cargolux international as a clients officer; after my sojourn in Merchant Express about two years plus, I left to Emirates Airlines from that till the Covid year I worked for Emirates. I’ve been to various international courses in Emirates, I’ve received so many awards while working with Emirates, 23 years is not 23 days so my sojourn in the aviation industry has been interesting. Before then I was a young man job hunting before luck fell on my side and I joined NAHCO and from there I started growing so I would say I grew from the ranks to where I am today, so I left Emirates 2020 November precisely four years ago. It was after leaving Emirates I came to what I’m doing right now.
What motivated you to leave and start up on your own?
Ok its always good when you put in enough time and knowledge into what you have started out with. I would say cargo industry in aviation is a very interesting aspect of aviation. If you know onion, if you know what it means to have cargo or to get cargo, you will develop a lot of interest, being one who started from the scratch, I knew the importance of cargo. I knew that with this pen hear you can use it to make something that will not only write. I believe I developed this interest in what I’m doing today right from my first time of getting into the aviation industry. I knew I was going to balance cargo with my life style or what I believe. You know we have a lot of aspects in aviation industry, the passenger side where you deal with human beings and I’m one who can use my hole time to work for you so I feel that if I were on the passenger side I wouldn’t have grown this far. I really picked interest in what I am doing today from the first time I entered into aviation because I found that cargo revolves around human satisfaction.
What are your high and low moments on this job?
I will share this experience with you; when I was leaving Emirates I had my colleagues that dusted their CVs and they wanted to further by searching for jobs and I told the look for me it is the last bus stop or the last point of 30 days make a pay and told them guys if I can talk Mr. A say to him that with Emirate your shipment is secured, will get there on time while in uniform, without uniform I can still talk to that same person and say I can help you get the goods to where you want it to get to at a very conservative cost why not just try me, and honestly I gave a shot it worked for me after I left in one month without an office and I was using my car as an office and maintained that relationship. So when I now saw that this is going to work, that’s when I said no. I don’t think I have to go back. After then I set up an office, I got my partners involved but that first two, three months it was as if someone said if think you can scale through from inside your car, getting inside an office lets come and lock that office; it was getting so bad that a kg of cargo I couldn’t do for a whole one month, but what kept me moving was that I looked back and told myself if I can do it without office, now that thee is an office we need to strive more harder. At that point I know there are people that will just give up but my kind of person and my passion for cargo and logistics and after like two, three months I started seeing the changes so the determination is a key factor here, as I was determined to be where I am today. The ups and down were there I won’t deny but the rosy times covered those.
With all that has happened will confidently say you are fulfilled?
I will beat my chest and tell you I have made very big marks in the industry and I’m still making marks. What you are seeing today is just a stepping stone, the determination like I rightly said is the key factor here and I am very proud of my impact in the industry.
Is the cargo industry thriving in Nigeria?
Of course it is. How I wish government look inwards and see some of us who started from the scratch tell our stories, our experiences and either make suggestions. I can comfortably tell you that if well managed after petroleum is aviation and in aviation you have cargo as part of it. If is well coordinated, supervised I will encourage every young man, young woman to venture into cargo and logistics business. Within the country our cargo business is not well managed. If you look at the transport section they are the ones trying to make it more lucrative, I don’t think our local airlines look at cargo as part of what they are supposed to be doing. Let me share this story with you – do you know they sent something a perishable goods from Owerri with one of the local airlines to Lagos, 45mins flight it got here lets say give and take 59 – 55 minutes the flight was here safely landed do you know that it took me three or four good hours to get something of just five to six KG. I bet you if you have a more organized, may be firm coordinators there is going to be very big revenue coming from that, government is going to be happy, the entrepreneur is going to be happy, the airline is going to be happy. If you have trained and coordinated personnel, there is no way you are not going to get right so it’s a very good business if you have you know your onion.
What does it to venture into the cargo business?
If you are determined and have the passion, try and create passion for what you are doing, get to know exactly what you are into. I was talking to some young lads recently and told its better to try to learn properly the job so that when you go out there you don’t mess yourself up. You know today in today’s Nigeria, every young man, every young woman wants to make it immediately; they see you with beautiful cloths, shoes and they go Ah! This man is looking nice and I want to be like him and there is nothing wrong with that, aspiring to be like that man however its better you put your head down to learn what that person is doing to see if it is what you can do. I would say determination first and that will put you in the light of what you stand to achieve. I started from the scratch and honestly if you told me then that this is where I would be today I would have said it’s a lie, it all centers on determination, if you are determined the sky will be your limit.
Did you have a role model in the industry?
Yes of course. I have plenty of them but on a more serious note I can categorically say my former boss with the little I knew about him, Captain Shina Akinfenwa the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Merchant Express Cargo Airlines, he is somebody that is known in the industry. He was determined and coming from flying, he stuck with the job and today he is one of the people I will call the leading lights in the industry.
How would you describe your person?
Well like I’ve said before this young gentleman here, will not say I’ve seen it all but I will describe my 45 years journey as a fantastic one. I would say fulfilled for now but I still want to get to get to where I believe I’m supposed to be. Honestly its not rocket science and I see it and very soon you will more of Nkem Cookey and may be 3 Seed very soon might be one of the airlines you will be seeing taking off and landing that’s our prayer, that’s our dream. The passion I have for the job that’s what its all about.
What areas would you like the government step up in the industry?
Let me start with what I shared earlier about local cargo carriers, I believe that as at today the government in power has done wonderfully well in aviation with the current Minister Barrister Festus Keyamo he has done very well overall in managing, coordinating and seeing that things are moving in the right direction in aviation and I still believe and hope there is more to do. I know there is a lot of department in the Federal Ministry of Aviation, if we are going to have a department that will see particularly to the local cargo movement its going to be a welcome development. You have the local airport warehouse but are they doing what they are supposed to do? The last time I was there I saw cubicles, offices but are they doing what they are supposed to do. Sometimes if you don’t have a well-coordinated and trained personnel, whenever you put anybody there, they will flop, so I expect the government to really look at that at that area. Today I know how many airlines that come into this country with cargo I can bet you every day we have over a hundred tons of cargo coming into this country and these airlines take cargo out which is the export side; there are those taking charge of things on this international side but what am trying to say is that on the local side, we really need well – coordinated management because if you have that there is no way government would not be making good revenue like from the international as they are going out.
Finally, where do you see 3 Seed in the future?
Going forward, I see 3 seed beyond where we are the moment. We have something ongoing now which is part of the vision and see by 2025 we are going to get more of that. With what we are doing now, we do it well and we are doing good, so in 2925 may be the next time you are going to be here, we might not be inside this office but in a bigger one that’s what we are looking at. We have partners that we have started with but I do not wish to mention names, we have the ones we are looking on to and those calling on us to come and do something; I see 3 Seed beyond where we are today, may be become a GSA if not, having our own aircraft, it’s possible.
How did you come about the chieftaincy title?
Well I am a community leader, I started very young to rule my people. From the part of this country where I come from we have a saying ‘Aku ruo ulo okota ebosi’ literally translated means ‘when wealth gets home it will tell where its coming from’ I am a young man who grew up in my town under the tutelage of my elders, my late Grand Father and I know every nook and cranny of my town. The name Cookey is my Grand Father’s name, my great grand father was in the old Rivers, Port Harcourt area and got married to my great grandmother who was from Rivers and gave birth to my grand father and that was how the name cookey came.
When I was coming to aviation I have a surname which someone who happens to be my uncle was in the same company and he said that you cannot bear this surname because you people are from the same place and so I had to choose Cookey as it is my grand fathers name and he was a strong man who dd a lot of charitable works in my home town which exposed him the more and me coming with that name, I needed no introduction as it was the only Cookey in the entire town. So in a way I continued all those charity works he used to do helping the community.
When I came to Lagos and joined my towns meeting I started growing from the ranks and continued to highest level of leadership. so I rose through the ranks, at a very tender age I contested as the Chairman of my community and I won and served them for eight years and that exposed me the more. Thereafter to the bigger town. With all the impact I have made my people said for you to come and give us this kind of exposure we need to honour you. When I was leading my people, I met that organization with zero naira in the account but when I was leaving after all expenses I left over a million naira; so the news got to everywhere. When they came and said we need to give you a chieftaincy title I did not hesitate and I did not look for a name, I took my great grandfathers name ‘Omezirihe’ (one who is doing good) and that’s why any where you see me I’m always doing good and that is what I am doing with 3 Seed so I am Chief Nkem Cookey John – Omezirihe 1 of Uratta.
We wish you well and thanks your time
Thank you, I appreciate your coming.
