Postal Reform Bill Rings Hope, Fear

The postal sector at the weekend greeted federal government’s approval of a reform bill that will strip Nigeria Postal Service (Nipost) of all its regulatory functions with mixed reviews as operators voiced fears at one end and hopes at another, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can report.

The Bill is an all important document that will give legal backing to the operations of the post as a whole and institute a regulatory framework for the postal sector by setting up an independent regulator for the industry.

Mrs Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology told journalists after the council meeting presided over by Namadi Sambo, Vice President that the key factor in the bill is that Nipostt should concentrate on its operational functions in the transformation agenda and help to contribute to the gross domestic product

The approval of the reform has ended many years of dilly-dallying over the Postal Bill expected to fast track the development of the postal industry in Nigeria.

Mr. Toyin Olufade, president, Association of Nigerian Courier Operators of Nigeria (ANCO) described announcement as “historic”

“We are happy the Minister is working towards the establishment of the Commission. It has become an executive bill and not individually sponsored. We have cried for such Commission owing to the existing wide gap between the operators and the Government. We expect the Commission to play a mediating role. So, we are happy that it is happening now,” he said.

While welcoming the bill, Akinyele Oladipo president, Nigerian International Air Courier Association (NIACA) lamented the inability of the government to seek inputs from the industry players.

“It is a welcome development. We have been clamouring for the Regulatory Body for more than five years now. Actually, we do not know the content of the Bill. NIACA has gone to the National Assembly, Nipost and everywhere we think we can get information on the content of the bill, but to no avail.

“You cannot shave a man’s head in his absence. We fear it may be an old win in a new bottle. For instance, Nipost just increased our subscription fees. The economy is not encouraging business growth; unless they want kill all indigenous companies, because the foreign operators are not feeling the heat like us. We wear the shoe and know where it pinches, they ought to have consulted us,” Oladipo said.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recalled that intrigues and administrative bottlenecks conspired in the past to delay the passage of the Nigeria Postal Service Bill.

The draft policy was brought out since 2005 and had moved back and forth the National Assembly and the presidency until the intervention of the present minister of Communications Technology.

Olufade believes that with the minister’s intervention that the intrigues and administrative bottlenecks that have hobbled sector would be laid to rest.

“If such Commission has been there, we would not have been passing through difficulties, particularly in Lagos State where the Traffic Law is forcing businesses to short down.

Presently, businesses in the courier and postal sector are crumbling, because the 200Cc capacity engine motorcycles are not there. Perhaps, the Commission would have reached a compromise with the State Government to enable us do business”  Olufade added.

Dr. Peter Mgbege, a reform expert said that creating a competitive environment would make the postal sector viable.

“What the minister is doing now is to create a workable regulatory paradigm that will provide efficient, transparent and accountable system of control for the postal market” Mgbege stated.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the e bid to reform the postal sector started in 2004 with the engagement of Nethpost Consultancy of Netherlands to conduct feasibility analysis and provide restructuring options for Nipost and the postal sector.

This came as a result of agitations by private courier operators at the second Nigeria Courier Summit in 2004 impressing on the federal government to give the industry an independent regulatory body even as they went ahead to demand that the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) of Nipost having done so well should be transformed to become a commission that would regulate the postal sector.

The Courier Regulatory Department (CRD), an arm of the federal government owned Nipost has been regulating the industry for years now but stakeholders argue that it smacks of injustice for a department of Nipost, also a player in the industry to be regulated by its offspring among other competitors thereby stoking the fire for an independent regulatory umpire for the sector.