NAN
Mr Bisi Adebuyi, Post Master-General and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST), says Nigeria will engage critical agencies to achieve an effective address system in the country.
Adegbuyi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, on the side lines of the inauguration of the Committee on National Addressing System, in Abuja.
He said that NIPOST was partnering critical parastatals like Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and banks, on the project.
He said that the step would make committing of crimes under anonymity a thing of the past.
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“The totality of all I am saying is that government has come up with an architecture that will ensure that we know where everybody lives.
“And, the service is capable of assisting us in the fight against terrorism because terrorists are not spirits, they live somewhere.
“So, if we know where they live by virtue of the technology we are going to deplore, it simply means we know where you are and you cannot cause us any harm.’’
The NIPOST boss said that the organisation was mindful of the importance of addressing in the quest for national development, hence its readiness to carry out the project.
“Permit me to quote the World Bank in 2005 when it said that street addressing is the critical medium for ensuring that citizens have access to their civic right and responsibilities.
“Apart from that, people tend to look at addresses from the angle of mail delivery; that is just an integral part of it. Addressing has grown to become a very critical national infrastructure.
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“Without addressing, you can’t do proper planning, management of your security and identity infrastructure is also very important.
“Nigeria Immigration Service that is supposed to issue passport for you must know where you live. Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) that registers companies in Nigeria must also know the addresses of the promoters of the companies.
“Under the KYC responsibility which is the statutory responsibility on the part of the banks when new banks accounts are opened for you, you are supposed to know the addresses of the people who would be opening and operating the account.
“The KYC responsibility also extends to issuance of SIM cards by telecommunications companies,’’ he said.
Adegbuyi said that NIPOST was expected to come up with the digital addressing system that would aid it in discharging its statutory responsibility of mail delivery.
“We have embarked on evolving technologies using the open location code to divide Nigeria into 330 billion, three-metres-by-three-meters square grade, with each grade having a unique address.’’