“NIPOST Unbundling will be completed January” – Post Master General

The Post Master General of Nigerian Postal Service NIPOST, Dr. Adebayo Adewusi, has disclosed that the unbundling of the NIPOST will be completed before end of January 2022.

Adewusi disclosed this during a media parley with Journalists in Abuja where he spoke on the achievements of NIPOST under his stewardship for the last two years.

Responding further to questions on the unbundling of NIPOST into multiple companies, he disclosed that with the boards of the companies in place already and the management to be inaugurated before January ending, the unbundling will be completed.

“Unbundling of NIPOST is almost complete with the inauguration of the boards and the management to be in place,” he said.

The companies include property and development, logistics, courier and a microfinance company.

Achievements
Adewusi said “under his leadership, NIPOST management identified Public Private Partnership PPP, as one of the ways forward. Going-it-alone, a solo approach to doing business would be less efficient, especially in a time resources crunch, and maybe unsustainable. It then meant the on boarding of other non-core businesses, through partnerships to meet customers’ needs and achieve diversification”

“The Nigerian Postal Service under my supervision, has established its first digital centre in Enugu, which features computer-based training test (CBT) centre, and other online transaction platforms.

“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.

“Recently six additional new high tonnage trucks were acquired for e-commerce and logistics. This acquisition has greatly boosted the quality of service: just as the collaboration with Speedaf Logistics Nigeria Limited has led to the addition of 27 new 10, 20, and 30 tonnage trucks into our fleet,” he added

Partnership
The Post Master General  also noted that NIPOST went into partnerships to enhance service delivery.

“The African Development Bank AfDB sought partnership with NIPOST to drive agriculture transformation in Africa’s economy with the Special Agro-Industrial processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative. The objective being to produce large stocks of marketable products using NIPOST’s warehousing, logistics and financial services.

“NIPOST under my watch did not stop at this, we also pursued collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, culminating in a courtesy visit to the Chairman/CEO Brig. General Muhammad Buba Marwa (Rtd.), where we renewed our cooperation in the fight against illicit drug use and trafficking in country.

“We also entered partnership with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), to enhance postal service delivery through collaboration for improved efficiency of the Nigerian Post Code System.

“In the area of operation and logistics, the quantum leap in e-commerce necessitated drastic measures to cope with the surge in parcels/packet deliveries. NIPOST collaborated with a number of private transporters and logistics companies like Speedaf to ensure seamless delivery,” he stated.

Illegal courier services
Adewusi affirmed that the new courier regulations in place empowers NIPOST to fish out illegal courier service providers and subject them to the law.

 “After 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,” he said..

He expressed hope that the new Regulations would sanitize the logistics ecosystem and put in check dubious activities of the criminal-minded operators.

The Post Master General attributed the low revenue generated by the NIPOST in the last two years to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“60% of our operations are done with other countries and since the pandemic, our revenue has been dwindling.”

He appreciated the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami for his firm support for the agency especially on the issue of who collects the duty stamp, the unbundling of NIPOST and workers welfare.

Nneka Ukachukwu