Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Nigeria adopts new addressing system, NIPOST sets 2020 target

By Adeyemi Adepetun
03 August 2017   |   4:03 am
The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has announced its adoption of the innovative global addressing system, what3words.

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has announced its adoption of the innovative global addressing system, what3words.

Nigeria is the seventh country to adopt the module globally and third in Africa. The system is already in use for mail delivery in Mongolia, Sint Maarten, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

What3words has divided the world into 57 trillion and 3×3 metre square, each with a unique three-word address. The identities are memorable and easy to share via email, text or over the phone.

The what3words API is being integrated by businesses, apps and services across the world in a variety of sectors. It is also used by individuals via the free what3words app.

A document from the Ministry of Communications yesterday said Nigeria’s current poor addressing system means that only 20 per cent of her inhabitants receive mail at home. It revealed that 79 per cent of homes and businesses cannot receive deliveries while the remaining one per cent receives mails using one of the 478,000 post office boxes nationwide.

The ministry explained that a postcode system does exist, adding that only five per cent of mail get properly addressed, thus hampering the efforts of NIPOST to improve its service.

However, in an effort to address the anomalies, the document informed that the agency is targeting to increase home delivery to 70 per cent within the next two years and 90 per cent by 2020 through the Mail for Every House Initiative (MEHI) and has adopted what3words to help it achieve the goal.

With the new addressing system, it means that every home and business in Nigeria would have a simple, accurate and memorable address.

The document reads: “For example, ///bracelets.hesitations.mutes refers to the exact 3m x 3m square at the entrance to the main post office in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.”

Currently in 14 languages, document explained that what3words is used in over 170 countries by governments, postal services, logistics companies, emergency services as well as non governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals.

In this article

0 Comments