Efforts by the Nigerian Postal Service to deploy technology in courier delivery and other services are being hampered by the inability to trace addresses presented by some Nigerians.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, said the government had instituted a policy whereby digital technology was being deployed to address this challenge.
He disclosed this in Lagos on Friday during a one-day stakeholders’ conference on digital addressing system and address verification system.
The system, Shittu said, would be deployed by NIPOST to trace and verify addresses of Nigerians.
According to the minister, Nigeria is the fourth African country and the seventh nation in the world that will be adopting the technology.
The government planned to establish e-government services in rural post offices for Nigerians to process driving licenses and passports, the minister said, adding that the technology would aid in stamping out crime, reducing poverty and creating employment for Nigerian youths who would be engaged to use their mobile phones in helping customers trace addresses just like the Uber service.
In his keynote address, the Post Master General of the Federation, Bisi Adegbuyi, pointed out that efforts to provide acceptable addressing system for the country were hampered by inaccuracies and inefficiencies, especially the way schools, houses, hospitals, markets and others are built and businesses are moved from one location to the other.
“This situation has continued to constitute a major challenge to the efficient delivery of mail and stumbling block to our socio-economic growth and development.”
Adegbuyi gave the assurance that the new NIPOST-DAS/AVS would avail digitally verified addresses to all Nigerians and legal residents as well as help organizations ascertain the authenticity of the addresses provided by the residents.
He said the agency was seeking to reclaim its rightful place in the e-commerce space and that the technology would go a long way in facilitating the mission.
Also speaking, the Corps Marshall, Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi, attributed the bad addressing to 300,000 unclaimed driving licenses in the country.
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