‘NIPOST Is Very Much In Business

Mrs. Mmaye Ujong is Area Postal Manager, Lagos Island Territory, Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST). She discusses the activities of NIPOST and its relevance in today’s communications and business transactions.

MRS. Mmaye Ujong is the Area Postal Manager, Lagos Island Territory, Nigeria Postal Service. She is the only female head of a postoffice in Lagos.

However, when The Guardian sought her out for an interview, her being a woman who heads a long established government institution was only one of the things that we wanted to talk about. For example, if the physical postal service has any work to do these days of electronic mail, this period when people communicate on-line.

Amusement, however, met this question initially. But after the laughter had subsided, she admitted that electronic mail caused anxiety globally because there was the fear that physical postal services would go down. “But we have discovered that on-line mails are generating business for the postal services.

Packages, which are ordered on-line, would have to be delivered by the postal services. “The postal services all over the world have one link so that if you order for a parcel in China, the first place that China Postal Service would think to deliver that mail would be to us here at the Nigeria Postal Service.

The exception would be that the person specifically asked that the parcel be sent through a courier company. That is why I am proud of the NIPOST,” she said.

What emails have done, she observes, is that they only changed the trend in the way we communicated love to our kin. “In the past, people communicate love through writing letters to their loved ones, but these days, it has changed to what we call parcel love.

Instead of a son writing to enquire of the well-being of his mother, he sends a parcel. “So while that person-to-person communication may have dwindled, the fear that postage mails would go out of business has been replaced by e-commerce. Many Nigerians are in the Diaspora as a result of the lottery visa, so they send things to their loved ones back home.

So, we are very much involved in trans-border business. “Accordingly, business letters such as proposals are still sent through the post; no serious businessman would send his proposals through email.

If Obama’s account could be hacked into, no one is safe. He may lose that business because somebody has hacked into his mailbox, copied and presented his ideas before him.”

Another business that excites her even in the Marina axis is the increased demand for made-in-Nigeria goods by the developed countries. “You need to see our parcel room. They now crave materials like adire, wax print and locally-made body creams; even noodles are on high demand outside Nigeria.

We have an international mailing centre where we make sure that contrabands do not go out. I am happy to say that Nigeria Postal Service is here to contribute its quota to this growth in the economy. “You wonder what we do here; have you ever asked yourself why there are so many courier companies?” she asked, adding that the companies should be seen as supplementing or complementing the efforts of NIPOST.

They are not competitors; you may call them stakeholders. “We also have the bulk posts or business mails for registrars of companies or which is used for mailing dividends and warrants; share certificates are still sent through the post.

Nigeria is still growing, so it is not everyone who has an on-line account; the country therefore is still highly analogous. The youths may have embraced the Internet fully but they are rarely the ones who would be concerned with share certificates.

Apart from that, Nigeria Postal Service is the only organization that has the capacity because of infrastructure for big volume business mails. It is also subsidized by the government and therefore cheaper, affordable and within the reach of the people,” she noted.

She continued: “We enjoy talking about our special delivery service which is different from EMS and Speedpost. It is a hand-to-hand delivery service that has a proof of delivery attached; the mail is sent through one area manager to another area manager.”

She draws the attention of the people to the mandatory use of postage stamps. “The nation is cheated when receipts are issued without a stamp affixed to it.

We clamour for internally generated revenue, but we ignore a source that is so simple and easy to enrich our economy. “The stamp Duties Act”, she points out, is explanatory; Section (2), Caps 8, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004 requires that every receipt, voucher, contract note agreement or others given by a person in acknowledgement of goods purchased or services rendered, should be denoted by an adhesive postage stamp.

Section 11 provides that for example, that a receipt denoted by an adhesive stamp shall be deemed duly stamped only when the person required by law to cancel such stamp cancels the same by writing or across the stamp his initials or the initials of his firm, together with the due date”.

Section 92 provides penalty for defaulters, she says, adding that in the past, businesses, especially landlords, complied with this law without being reminded. “The law states transactions up to N1, 000 should have stamp affixed. For example, if you are arrested for stealing a packet of biros, a stamped receipt would exonerate you.

Philately is the production of stamp and Nigeria Postal Service is the only arm of government that has the authority to produce stamps.

However, under philately, we have people who collect stamps as a hobby. Along the line, also it has been discovered that some human beings fake stamps and it is based on this that the postal service is called upon to identify the genuine from the counterfeit.” Recently, for example, NIPOST officials were invited by a high court in Lagos to help solve the riddle of two stamps.

Two people were engaged in a tussle of ownership of a land bought 10 years ago; both had stamped receipts but the owner was decided because NIPOST staff knew the stamp they sold 10 years ago, she said. She added that an authorized stamp among other features would have a date and would bear a watermark. “People may fake them, but we in NIPOST can always tell.”

Philately, she says, is also a good business as a collector may sell as much as N50, 000 for one stamp. “We are trying to reintroduce the younger generation to stamp collection, teach those aesthetics through stamps. We want them to know that they can make friends through stamp collection.

When they come on excursion, we ask them to write letters to their parents or principals. The Universal Postal Union Switzerland has a compulsory essay writing competition (letter writing) for ages nine to 15 and Nigeria has won it a few times.” Post Office Box or P. O. Box, as it is known, will never go out of demand, she says. “It is where foreign investors would prefer to get in touch with you because it bears your identity. “We have our challenges.

The biggest trial is that development of cities is making it difficult to trace addresses; man hours are lost while trying to find irregularly numbered streets.

The governments should help us to serve the people better.” As for how she has been able to become the only female in a government institution that has existed for decades, she said: “It is through God’s favour. Also, NIPOST is a dynamic organization which builds potentials; I exhibit only what I have been taught here.”

What are her personal challenges? “I set so many targets, but I am lucky that I have unit heads who buy into my vision. And my vision is not in isolation from that of NIPOST.

We have improved and we expanded in the interest of the public. The General Post Office in Badore, Lekki will be commissioned this August, thanks to the former Chairman, Hon. Owolabi Issa Eti Osa, East Local Government, and the Post Master General, Malam Mori Baba for quickly erecting a post office.

A post office is a landmark of a federal government; that is why the federal government should nurture this baby, it is not old at all. Other countries take pride in their postal service.”

Recalling her growing up, she said: “I was inspired by my parents who were strict educationists; my father was a Higher Inspector of Education in then Eastern Region. My mother, a teacher, raised her children the way she was trained by white missionaries.”