From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Postmaster General/CEO of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Dr Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, on Tuesday lamented exclusion from capital projects and absence of budget that has grossly impeded the growth and development of the Nigerian postal service.
Mr Adewusi spoke at a media parley to mark the 2nd anniversary of his appointment held in Utako, Abuja.
According to the PMG, the negligence of the Postal Service has slowed its evolution and is responsible for its dilapidated structures across the nation.
He, however, praised President Muhammadu Buhari for the initiative to unbundle NIPOST. This, he explained would enable the Postal Service to fully utilise all its assets scattered all over the country to maximise revenue generation.
He said the restructuring would see to the emergence of a NIPOST Property Company which would be highly commercialised and would oversee the massive renovation of the structures.
“NIPOST has not had a budget or benefited from capital projects in the past 28 years. This is why our infrastructure across the country is dilapidated. It has not been easy at all. But we have to appreciate the President or the policy to unbundle NIPOST. It is an initiative that will commercialise most of our processes. Our new NIPOST Property Company will be saddled with the responsibility of renovating the NIPOST facilities across the nation. Most of the facilities that you see that are dilapidated will then be taken over by the new NIPOST Property company,” he stated.
Speaking on the issue of unauthorised courier operators parading the nation, the NIPOST boss disclosed that information reaching him showed that some of the bikes across the major cities were being used to transport and sell hard drugs. He assured that the organisation will not rest until it had eliminated unlicensed operators and people who do illegal businesses through Courier.
“I wish to inform you today, that after nineteen (19) years, a new Courier Regulations, more in tune with the new order and way of doing business, was presented, and approved for the regulation of the courier industry. The last such review of the Regulations was in 2001.
The new Regulations empowers NIPOST to regulate the courier and logistics industry, checkmate the activities of illegal and nefarious logistics and courier companies in the country. The new Regulations would sanitize the logistics ecosystem and put in check dubious activities of the criminal-minded operators.” He announced.
The PMG recounted the various giant strides undertaken by NIPOST in the last two years even in the face of insufficient funding challenges. Part of these he mentioned were the efforts to digitalise NIPOST’s processes and services. He further reiterated his commitment to achieving full digitisation for the organisation.
He said, “In a bid to expand the frontiers of NIPOST products and services, a B2B agreement was signed with eGATE of Egypt on digital transformation. With this agreement, job opportunities will be created. It will also help to address the infrastructure gap in the organization, as well as reposition NIPOST on the path of full digitalisation. It would interest you to note that the new addressing system, that is, the Digital Addressing system, is being developed as a strategic infrastructure for national development. It will facilitate mail handling, identify locations precisely, ensure consistency in address related databases and enable efficient services in government agencies, financial institutions, and businesses in a consistent manner.
He listed others to include: Western Union Money Transfer which commenced pilot operations in Lagos in 2020; reconciliation of account with Cameroon Post (Campost), culminating in the resumption of international remittance transactions which, has accrued over N10 million in revenue;
Others are; joining of UPU Clearing House, to facilitate the expansion of remittance transaction beyond the Cameroon Nigeria corridor; roll out of co-branded credit/debit card with Data Mining; payment services partnership, with System Specs, which allows NIPOST to carry out bill payment using Remita on its counters and promotion of NIPOST card for seamless IFS transactions with more UPU member countries, among others.
“Given the modest achievements we have recorded in the last two years of my administration; it is my candid belief that we are on the right track and determined to reposition NIPOST to an enviable height for effective service delivery to the citizenry. As we braced up to confront emerging challenges in the digital world, NIPOST is working assiduously to remain a veritable force, one to reckon with in the courier and logistics industry. We will be available to work in partnership with other related agencies, both government and private sector, to ensure we provide reliable and efficient services for the socio-economic development of our country.” Adewusi said.
