The minister of Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu, has expressed optimism that the recent innovative game-changing products unveiled by the Nigeria Postal Service would change the face of postal services in the country.
The minister, who stated this at an event to mark the 2017 World Postal Day in Abuja, described the innovation as timely, saying the agency has realised its challenges and has identified diversification as a way forward in order to remain relevant.
He said NIPOST has now broadened its services beyond mere posting of parcels as it can now render financial services by intruding NIPOST bank, e-government services, transportation and many others.
The minister also said that the agency has introduced the International Postal Service (IPS) which will enable customers to track and trace their parcels.
Speaking on financial services in the country, Shittu said the agency has presence in 1,500 locations across the country which will be utilised for financial services to people in the rural areas since commercial banks are hardly located in these areas.
According to him, “We look at the financial services situation in the country, for now, NIPOST has presence in about 1,500 locations across the country, on the other hand, because of the commercial nature of banks, they cannot open shops where they cannot make money, so banks are limited to half of the 774 local government areas in the country.
So, we felt that we could utilise the postal services to bring about the same services that commercial banks are providing”.
On e-government, he said “We do know that international passports are processed only in passport offices which are located only on state capitals across the country, instead of somebody travelling several kilometres to state capital with the time and risk involved, we can eliminate these risks by using NIPOST facilities; where you can apply online and pay online while the passport will be delivered to your doorstep.”
Also, he said the agency is venturing into transportation services and leasing of land spaces for building of complexes and others.