Tag: Nipost

NIPOST Reads Riot Act to Unregistered Courier Firms

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Post Master General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba, said the Agency would continue to clamp down on unregistered courier companies.

Baba stated this during the opening of the new office complex of Bowill Errands Limited in Lagos.

Debunking the claim that the parastatal had been ‘soft’ on unlicenced courier operators, the Post Master General, represented by Mr Julius Anjorin of the Courier Regulatory Department, said NIPOST had always been on the trail of illegal courier operators.

According to him, the issue at stake here is that in pursuing these unlicenced operators, we have to strictly follow laid down guidelines, so that we won’t be faced with unwarranted litigations. We have to be very careful in our ‘war’ against them, so that we won’t have series of litigations in our hands.

NIPOST’s claim, saying “the end of illegal courier firms was near,” adding that most of the companies who patronise do so out of ignorance.

Oladapo, who is also General Secretary of Association of Nigeria Courier Operators said: “There is no proliferation of courier companies. “The Nigerian economy, given its size, population and volume of economic activities can still accommodate more courier companies,” he said, and applauded the economic reform policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

“The financial sector reform has had tremendous impact on the economy, especially the recapitalisation of the banks. Banks now have enough funds and because they must manage their liquidity with profitability, they can’t just keep this funds idle.

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Nigeria: Courier operators canvass for inclusion in postal committee

Posted by | Sep 4, 2007 | |

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.

These sectors he noted include courier, postal and the Ministries of Communications and Aviation.

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.

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Nigeria: With free enterprise, the postal sector can compete with telecom

Posted by | Aug 8, 2007 | |

IS modern technology a threat to traditional postal service providers? Well, Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba, Post Master-General and CEO of the Nigeria Postal Services, (NiPOST) thinks so, but believes the post remains a vital ingredient of communication in modern business enterprise.

In a bid to get the Nigerian postal system in sync with modern business trends, the government is in the process of enacting a new Postal Reforms Bill that would apparently give the body greater authority and control in the business of mails delivery. Private courier providers already see the new bill as a threat to their corporate existence, although details of the new bill still with the National Assembly since the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, have not been officially made public.

Mr. Isaac Orolugbagbe, former Chief Executive of Red Star Express (FedEx) believes the new reforms policy bill is a way to the total annihilation of private investment.

Mr. Orolugbagbe believes that like the telecom reforms in the early days of President Obasanjo’s government that now allows Nigerians to make telephone calls so easily, the postal sector too could rake in good fortunes for the country. He noted that reforms in the telecom sector have brought about huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.

Initially, the government of President Obasanjo had hoped to commercial NiPOST, but the agency charged with the responsibility, Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE deferred that operation, opting rather for outright privatisation.

Mr. Orolugbagbe, believes his greatest achievements as Chief Executive was moving the company from annual revenue base of N 250 million in 1997 to over N 2 billion in 10 years. He noted that the company started with a share capital base of N 3 million in 1992. “The company actually needed N 60 million to start operation, but at the end we just made do with N 3m and today, it is now a household name.”

Red Star recently entered into working alliance with the American Federal Express (FedEx) courier boosting its annual financial statement with additional USD 3 million.

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Baba Mori, Post Master General of Nigeria: We want NIPOST to be a one stop shop

Posted by | Jul 18, 2007 | |

Ibrahim Baba Mori, Post Master General of Nigeria, recently took a facility tour of Speedyprints, a subsidiary of Superflux, one of its partners. In this interview with GODFREY OFURUM, he gave insight into their relationship, the postal reform bill and more

Postal reform

Well, it depends on what the government wants to achieve at the end of the day and how they want to position NIPOST. But from our own point of view, we are looking even from the consultant’s point of view.

Firstly, we want to strengthen the present status or position of NIPOST and then the next level will be to commercialize certain aspects of the post. And as far as we are concerned, for over four to five years, we would have involved the private sector in our operations. We do not move our mails in the highways; some other persons do that for us. Even though you see the trucks in our coolers and names but we do it in partnership with some companies. Those companies that move our mails solely own those trucks. We have extended such partnership to move our mails along the West Coast of Africa. So, we have two trucks that move our mails from Badagry in Lagos State to Cote d’Ivoire through Benin, through Accra and the Gambia.

Effect of postal reform

Some of the challenges before NIPOST are the frequent changes of peoples’ addresses. You will agree with me that even the place you reside now; the streets are not well numbered. And yet people will want NIPOST to do magic and some people may not renew their postal boxes and by our rule, once you do not renew your box numbers, you will not get your mails and those are some of the problems.

Effect of reforms on mail delivery

We have not shifted grounds from what we promised Nigerians. The 72 hours, 36 hours, 24 hours and 12 hours we promised are still in place. For example, a letter from Lagos to Kaduna should not take more than 72 hours. However, it depends on what part of Kaduna the mail is going to. If it is actually going to a mailbox in Kaduna town, I can tell you that in less than 36 hours it will be in Kaduna.

But also if it is going out of Kaduna town, it will take another 12 hours, but in most cases over 75 percent of letters get to their destinations in 72 hours.

Competition

I have said this umpteenth time that the private sector will play a complementary role when they come on board. Currently, there is no clear cut difference between the services rendered by the private courier companies and what we offer.

I am not sure you are aware that most of the services of these courier companies terminate where you have airports and probably seaports. If you are now talking about a mail going to my state, Kebbi, the best they can do is to get it to Sokoto. They might not be able to take it to my village. If you talk in terms of comparative advantage, that has to do with things they have and we do not have, vice versa. But when it comes to spread, there is no way private courier companies can match our business.

Grow the mail

Grow the mail is an initiative of NIPOST, in partnership with some private companies including Speedyprints. However, the modalities are still being walked out. The aim is to increase the volume of mails and also to let people know that they can place adverts on our envelopes.

Grow the mail benefits

In NIPOST, we are concerned about what we call the last mile. And that last mile also depends on what time the last mail will get to its destination. I believe from this meeting Speedyprints will be able to solve a number of problems for us. At least, they will be able to sort the mails and that is what we call the last line. Instead of us taking the mails from different areas, they will do it for us and all we would do is to know the destination of the mails and as soon as they come, we arrange them in states and towns and put them in our system.

Impression of Speedyprint

I am happy that I was able to make it to this place today because I had been

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Nipost to Become One-Stop Communication Shop

Posted by | Jul 12, 2007 | |

Baring major changes in the direction and focus of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), the organisation is likely to grow into a one-stop shop for all communications services with particular emphasis on catering for the communications needs of rural dwellers, five years down the line.

The Post Master General (PMG) of the country, Alhaji Ibrahim Baba Mori stated this during his working visit to the SpeedyPrint Limited, a member of the Supperflox Group in Lagos.

He also maintained that the government-owned courier company still maintains considerable comparative advantage over any other courier company operating in the country presently.

Fielding questions on what NIPOST would look like in the next five years. Mori said the postal services provider would possibly grow into a one-stop shop that would cater for all communication needs of the Nigerian, particularly the rural dwellers.

He also bared his mind on the threat to the company posed by the presence of private sector players in courier and mail delivery services, arguing that the role of the latter is complementary when it comes to mail delivery services in the country.

The Post Master General also maintained that NIPOST still enjoys significant comparative advantage over the private sector players and as such does not feel threatened by the existence and activities of such operators.

SpeedyPrint is a member of the Superflox Group and its speciality is in the production of security documents particularly for operators in the financial services sector, including cheques and statement of accounts.

The company has just been licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to print cheques for the consolidated banks operating in the country and the company has commenced printing of such security documents locally. Before now, such materials were being imported into the country.

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