The Minister of Communications, Dr Adebayo Shittu, says the ongoing multi-faceted reforms in NIPOST will reposition it as a top revenue generating and impactful government agency within the next two years.
Shittu made the assertion during a Stakeholders Conference organised by NIPOST on Friday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference theme was“Addressing Critical Challenges in Courier and E-Commerce Industry’’.
“I can say confidently that with the multifaceted reforms that we are bringing on board, NIPOST would be number one leading government agency with the most impactful influence on every Nigerian.
“As of today, those in the forefront of bringing large money into Federal Government’s coffers are the Customs, FIRS, NNPC and a few others, but that will change in the next two years,”Shittu said.
He said that part of the agenda of the Buhari Administration was to introduce reforms and initiatives that would spur economic growth, job creation and impact on citizens’ welfare.
He said through the Digital Address System and Address Verification System introduced by NIPOST, trading activities via the e-commerce platform would increase, be efficient and make fast delivery of goods to all parts of the country.
He said that asides the Digital Address System, there would be a NIPOST Banking and Insurance Company to drive financial inclusion and economic growth.
“We know that over 60 per cent of Nigerians live in rural areas and less than half of the 774 local government areas has banking infrastructure.
“What NIPOST will do is to bring some of its about 1600 structures across the country to provide banking services so that everyone in the country would be financially included,” he said.
According to him, plans are also in the offing to create a NIPOST Property and Development system to ensure that many unused NIPOST lands spread across the country are leased out to the public.
Shittu said that there would also be a NIPOST Logistic Service that would not be restricted to courier services, but also the movement of people and goods across the country.
He said that NIPOST E-Commerce and E-Governance service would be used to connect businesses to their prospective clients and ease the processing of documents for Passports and Driver’s licence registration.
“By the time we are through with all these reforms, the impact shall be felt by many Nigerians and would bring in a lot of money into government’s coffers through NIPOST,” Shittu said.
He said that the initiatives would impact on every sectors of the economy, create jobs, drive transformation in business delivery and boost economic growth.
The minister commended the management of NIPOST, saying that it was proving that Nigeria could break away from the past to a more digital future.
Mr Bisi Adegbuyi, the Postmaster General of the Federation, said that the NIPOST-Digital Address System (NIPOST-DAS) was established to solve the challenges facing individuals and businesses in the country.
He said that NIPOST-DAS would bridge the addressing gap and provide accessible database for security agencies and MDAs like NIMC, Immigration, FRSC, for enrolment, economic planning and registration purposes.
“With NIPOST-DAS, every metre of Nigeria is covered and all locations in the country have unique digital address and provide near accurate direction to user and you would be located wherever you are.
“Instead of using a church, tree or street stall to locate a home or business, the digital system will capture every property across the nation with a unique code as its address.
“This will make everyone accessible, reduce rate of non-delivery of parcels, connect citizens to government services, boost trust and confidence in business transactions,” he said.
Adegbuyi said that NIPOST would leverage on technology to provide infrastructure, jobs, reduce poverty and crime, create wealth and ensure that millions of Nigeria were impacted.
Kola Aduloju, Assistant Secretary, Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), Tanzania, said that to drive growth in the E-Commerce industry, there must be synergy among stakeholders.
He said that there must be a review of courier charges, a more robust and secure payment channels to attract more customers and drive the cashless policy of government. (NAN)