From Uche Usim, Abuja
Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, has thrown the Ministry’s weight behind the ongoing reform and unbundling of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE); saying the move would strengthen and reposition it for full e-commerce and e-government services.
He also said the overhaul will be a clear response to technological challenges that have affected mail services globally to seek out other services could render in the 21 century.
Shittu, who stated these at a meeting with the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, in his office yesterday, said that despite the deteriorating state of NIPOST, it was still viable and has the infrastructure and personnel to provide essential services to Nigerians.
He expressed optimism that with the large network of NIPOST offices throughout the 774 Local Government Areas of the federation, the establishment of a Postal Bank out of the present NIPOST will bring financial inclusiveness to unbanked Nigerians in the rural areas since conventional banks are not keen on establishing branches in such far-flung locations due to poor returns.
Shittu regretted the state of some NIPOST landed assets, which he said were lying fallow and constantly snatched by land speculators.
He suggested that an unbundled NIPOST could establish a property development company to lease out some of its vast lands to investors, adding that its fleet of vehicles could also be used to establish a transport company for haulage and parcel delivery services, given their low utilisation capacity occasioned by declining mail services in the country.
Earlier, the Director General of BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, said the purpose of the visit was to inform the Minister of the planned partial commercialisation of NIPOST in line with the Bureau’s mandate.
He explained that the lull in the transaction was a result of the delay in the inauguration of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) “but with its recent inauguration, it is now apt to develop a strategy to drive the transaction”.
Okoh said the Bureau has reviewed the initial works done on the modernization and commercialisation of the enterprise with a view to adopting a credible process and that the transaction would be domiciled in the Bureau which is statutorily empowered to drive the process.
While assuring the Minister of a speedy transaction process that will usher in a new NIPOST for the benefit of Nigerians, Okoh called for synergy in order to achieve this goal, noting that the Minister would head the Steering Committee for the transaction, while the Project Delivery Team (PDT) would comprise staff of the Bureau, the Ministry and other relevant stakeholders.
However, he said that a the committee would set up a conference committee to deepen more effort in ensuring that the audit bill is passed into law.