Nipost, Courier Operators Bicker over New Fees

Courier Operators have reaffirmed their opposition to moves by Nigerian Postal Service (Nipost) to increase licensing fees and urged Nipost which is both regulator and operator to clear the ambiguity surrounding its existence.


But Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba, postmaster general and chief executive of Nipost said that the new tariff regime is aimed at checking capital flight and restoring sanity in the industry.


Nipost reportedly announced a new tariff regime requiring operators to pay as much as N10 million for a license beginning from January 2013.


Under the new regime, a new operator is to pay N3 million for a nationwide license up from N1 million while international operations will attract N10 million from previous N1 million.


Nipost also increased its renewal license fees from N250,000 for nationwide operations to N750,000 while international operations is put at N3 million from N250,000.


Toyin Olufade, president, Association of Nigeria Courier Operators (ANCO) warned that the industry will suffer a major setback if Nipost goes ahead with the new fees.


He said that most indigenous operators are not finding it ease with the present fees and a myriad of other operational challenges.


Olufade said that Nipost should have consulted widely and described the move as ‘out of play’.


Nodding in agreement, Henrietta Onwujei-Okonkwuo, vice president, said there were better ways to sanitize the industry.
 

“Even if it is meant to prune down number of companies in the industry this cannot be the best approach,” she said


Onwujei-Okonkwuo warned that the aftermath effect that would include, “dearth of companies, retrenchment of workers, increase in number of illegal operators and the pressure it will release on the society”.


“Since the capital market started having one problem or the other, some companies are forced to either close down or tighten up their belts, so how are they going to pay the new fees?” she asked


But the postmaster general said the new regime is aimed at restoring sanity and checking the excesses of some international courier operators in the country.


Mori Baba insisted that postal sector must grow in its contribution to the transformation agenda of the present government.


According to him, Nipost categorized the fees, knowing well that the financial muscles of the international hands of the industry are not same with the domestic operators.