Postal reform bill may be passed before end of May

PLANNED reforms in the Nigerian postal sector through the restructuring of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) may become concrete before the end of this administration, as the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to send the bill to the legislature for its passage.

   This follows the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) approval of the Nigerian Postal Service Commission Bill 2014. The nation’s postal sector has grown over time with over 1,200 government post offices, close to 2,000 private postal agency outfits and over 290 registered private courier companies. 

   However, statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that while the year-on-year growth is increasing, the contribution of the post and courier services sector to the GDP (at 0.03 per cent) is still low. In view of this, the bill is designed to reform and reposition the postal sector in line with global trends and international best practices. 

   It aims to promote an efficient, cost-effective and better funded postal sector capable of delivering service that meets universal obligations as embedded in such national policies and programmes as the Transformation Agenda and Vision 20:2020.

   In a statement Sunday, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Communication Technology, Efem Nkanga, said the approval was given on February 11. Explaining that the postal sector is managed by NIPOST, she noted that the growth of the sector is, therefore, intrinsically tied its reforms. 

   She further explained that the process of reforming NIPOST began in the early 2000s when the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), through the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), started with objectives that included establishing a low cost universal postal service that provides a solid communication medium and link nation-wide.

   Others were: providing a safe and efficient postal service that is sustainable and keeps pace with developments in the rest of the world; introducing private sector participation and the development of the postal service into a commercially viable enterprise and creating a convenient means of savings mobilisation and payment and/or funds transfer system for the entire country through the postal network.

   Nevertheless, while the conceptual framework was developed, the process of its ownership and actualisation has suffered significant delay, and has actually stalled in some aspects following the non-passage of the amendment bills.

   Since 2011, at the start of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the focus of reform has been to promote NIPOST as a “necessary tool for the promotion of social, financial and digital inclusion.” 

   It seeks to restructure it along business lines through the establishment of a new management style that focuses on operational excellence, quality improvement, customer focus, result-oriented management and cost control. 

   For NIPOST to respond more effectively in a very competitive environment, the deployment of massive ICT infrastructure with focus on carrying out ICT-based services, including online and automated services in post offices is being implemented (in stages) towards improved quality of service and process efficiency, in order to regain public confidence in service delivery.

   Speaking on the approval, the Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, described it as “a timely impetus to push harder and further with the reform, and we look to the legislature to quickly pass this into law.”

   This “will allow for the establishment of an effective, impartial and independent regulatory authority for the postal sector and will help to ensure fair competition in the postal industry.” 

   According to her, such move will introduce greater transparency and predictability in the sector, encourage private investment and development of the broader economy, as “practically every sector of the economy depends on service providers in the postal industry.”

   Johnson stressed that the passage of the bill would also promote the provision of modern, universal, efficient and easily accessible postal services by ensuring that the needs of the poor, disabled and elderly persons are taken into consideration.

   More so, by setting a robust framework for protecting the right and interest of consumers, it will help in furthering the attainment of more inclusive socio-economic development in Nigeria.