Nigeria: Courier operators canvass for inclusion in postal committee
Larry Chinekezi, managing director of Tradeways Express, who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustee, ANCO, said the current committee is made up of members drawn from the Ministry of Communications and the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST).
According to him, the committee is more interested in developing the postal sub-sector while not addressing issues that has to do with courier and logistics operation.
He therefore called for invitation of stakeholders by the committee in order to be acquainted with the challenges facing the courier and logistics sub-sector.
“The issue is that the Ministry of Communication is viewed as a postal and telecommunications ministry, but we, the courier and logistics service operators also have a stake in it.
“Having a commission that is made up of the Ministry and NIPOST will not address issues. It should comprise of the different sectors.”
These sectors he noted include courier, postal and the Ministries of Communications and Aviation.
Speaking further, Chinekezi said: “There should be an independent regulatory committee, unless they want us to separate courier business from our other businesses.”
He said courier business drives the economy through facilitating e-commerce and communications and involves haulage, cargo services which involve clearing and forwarding.
He lamented the provision in the postal bill that mandates postal service operators to pay a percentage of their profit into the Ministry’s coffers, stating that with the dichotomy in the attention given to the different sub operations under the communications ministry, profit from the courier arm of their businesses would only be used to service the postal sub-sector, leaving the courier sub-sector with its challenges.
Chinekezi further charged the Ministry of Communications to look at ways of liaising with the relevant authorities and Ministries in addressing such challenges as bad roads and power, which are the major issues confronting courier business in Nigeria.
He noted that due to the bad condition of the roads, it now takes about three to four days for a cargo to get to its destination in the eastern part of the country as against one day when the roads were better.
