Expert says commercialisation of agency will boost revenue generation

Mr Shola Bikestet, the Head, Financial Inclusion Network Group, says partial commercialisation of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) will boost the revenue generation ability of the agency.

He said that the move to partially commercialise the agency was to its advantage because it would enable the agency go into collaborations that would yield lots of benefits.

According to him, removing the rein of government on NIPOST will give it the impetus to go into greater collaborations and make it expand its services.

“Even with the new products that the agency launched at the commemoration of the World Post Day like the electronic stamps and electronic money, the commercialisation is a great boost.

“Every service you can imagine, if you want to open a bank account, to get a National identity card, apply for a loan, or get e-commerce services, commercialising the agency will make it easier.

“Our collaboration with the agency in providing financial solutions, even in the village now you can order for a phone because the agent can come and meet you right there.

“NIPOST already has an advantage that nobody has – NIPOST has the largest spread of any government institution, they have 2,000 post offices already in the country.

“So commercialising NIPOST is doing the right thing, making it to be innovative and to join the world of innovators,” he said.

He said that NIPOST was not creating its own solutions but was simply working with people who had already created these solutions.

According to him, NIPOST will be acting as agent to banks such as the micro finance banks, government agencies and to whoever wants to take their present service to under-served areas.

Bikestet said postal services had always been important because of its core mandate of providing an address for every Nigerian, but beyond that it would now serve other purposes.

“You know no matter how far a village is, you will find a provision store where they sell beverages and all those stuff, which is what NIPOST is doing.

“With this, NIPOST is going to be the super market of so many service providers, there will be no time that people will not find one thing or the other to do in the post office,’’ he said.

NAN recalls that the Federal Government had in 2017 approved the partial commercialisation of NIPOST.

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu disclosed this while inaugurating the Steering Committee (ST) and the Project Delivery Team (PTD) for Postal Sector Reforms and the Restructuring/Modernisation of NIPOST.

Shittu said that the partial commercialisation of NIPOST was in line with the Second Schedule Part 1 Section 6 of the Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act 1999.