Government mulls e-services firm to drive inclusion

The Federal Government has announced plans to establish an electronic company, to achieve an all-inclusive economic growth, noting that this would go a long way to avail Nigerians in remote areas, easy access to government services.

The Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, also said plans are underway to establish a Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) banking and insurance company, to get every individual into the financial inclusion scheme.
 
The minister, who spoke during a stakeholders’ conference on, ‘digital addressing system and address verification system,’ organised by NIPOST, said: “We are also looking at establishing a NIPOST Property and Development Company, to make judicious use of NIPOST underutilised facilities wasting away.

Some of these lands will be available to build housing estates, event centres, garages, and others to earn revenue for the federal government.”
  
He explained further, saying: “In two years from now, NIPOST will be the best leading federal government agency in terms of its impactful influence on the life of every Nigerian, and courtesy of its upgraded processes, it would also help in bringing in the largest amount of money into federal government coffers.
 
‘‘There are communities which are about 200 to 300 kilometres away from the state capitals, so with the help of these offices, people can assess government services from their local communities.

By the time we conclude in establishing all of these companies, there will be no one person in Nigeria, who will not be affected positively by NIPOST multifaceted companies.”
  
Earlier, the Postmaster General of the Federation, Bisi Adegbuyi, said NIPOST has opened up new windows of opportunities for the organisation to realise its objective of providing digital addressing system for Nigerians that is hyper specific and predicated on latest technologies.

He said its Address Verification System (AVS) is the new game changing products that will avail digitally verified addresses to all Nigerians and legal residents as well as help organisations ascertain the authenticity of the addresses provided by the residents.
 
He said the new system is not a replacement to the present Nigerian Addressing System, stressing that the present only brings an element of standardisation into the system that a vast and complex country like Nigeria needs.