NIPOST Begins Restructuring Ahead Reform Bill

The Nigerian Postal System will on Monday begin the implementation of its four-year reform programme without the passage of the Nigerian Postal Service Reform Bill, which is currently in the National Assembly.

The Nigerian Postal Service, abbreviated as Nipost, is a government-owned and operated corporation. It is the Nigerian postal administration responsible for providing postal services in Nigeria. It came into being in 1987 when Nigeria divided it’s postal and telecommunication department, know as Post and Telegraph department (P&T), into two stand alone corporations. The postal unit, became NIPOST , while the telecommunications unit, became Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

Both were public monopolies in their different sectors until the deregulation of the telecoms sector in 2001 by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Since then calls have been made to the Nigerian government by various stakeholders to deregulate the postal sector as well and usher in competition to make room for wider coverage of the sector, new investment as witnessed in the telecoms, banking and oil sectors and for improvement of services to the consumers.

In a document obtained Punch in Abuja on Wednesday titled: ‘NIPOST Vision 2020 – Embracing the Future Today’, the Postmaster General of the Federation, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi, said some reforms would go on without the passage of the bill, while others would wait.

The reforms, which include reforming the top management of the organisation, creating commercial business units, diversifying the range of services, and rightsizing the workforce, are aimed at making the postal system self-financing in four years.

“The programmes and activities to be implemented during the four-year period without a reform bill would rest on the support of the following four key pillars – structural/management reform, quality service improvement, innovation/modernisation of postal infrastructure, and diversification,” Adegbuyi said.

The NIPOST boss stated that after the threat of modern communication technologies, several reform models had transformed the postal systems in Europe and America, but indicated that NIPOST had chosen to adopt the French model after a study of the different existing models.

He said, “Le Groupe La Poste of France took a decision to become a multi-activity, multi-channel local services operator with operations in banking and insurance.

“It is the model that many prosperous postal administrations, particularly in emerging economies like Asia, Latin Americas and some African countries like Tunisia and Morocco, have adopted.

“We believe that it is the best model for NIPOST. Thus, we have equally adopted the multi-activity, multi-channel services model for the inclusion of everyone, everywhere. This strategic focus is captured in the draft postal sector bill awaiting passage and enactment.”

Adegbuyi added that the starting point was adopting the right mix of organisational structure and innovative management style in accordance with private sector best practices.