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The Nigerian government has announced plans to set up an independent National Postal Commission (NPC) to regulate the courier industry including the publicly owned Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), from which it has finally created three commercial ventures.
Government had earlier in the year announced plans to create viable subsidiaries out of the moribund public entity as part of the ongoing reform of the NIPOST.
In June, it inaugurated the sub-committee of the implementation committee for the postal sector reform with mandate to provide the roadmap for the restructuring and modernisation of NIPOST.
This week in Abuja, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, said the bureau had completed the registration of NIPOST Properties & Development Company and NIPOST Transport & Logistics Company at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to kickstart their new roles as commercial ventures.
According to him, the BPE has also commenced the registration of NIPOST Microfinance Bank at the CAC while it seeks regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Okoh clarified that the commercialization of NIPOST is not privatisation. The unbundling of the postal agency into three viable companies is designed to make the publicly owned NIPOST profitable and sustainable.
Core postal service function will remain with the parent company, he explained.
Okoh spoke while receiving members of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE), led by its President, Rev. Nehemiah G. Buba, who paid him a courtesy visit.
The BPE’s boss assured the NUPTE that NIPOST’s reforms would not erase jobs but expand the window for more employments as the new subsidiaries go into full operation.
He said it was in the interest of NIPOST and the staff to have a functional entity able to deliver more efficient postal services.
After the reforms, NIPOST will remain a fully owned government agency, Okoh told the staff of the postal agency.
