NIPOST is going into e-commerce

The Minister of Communications, Mr. Shittu Adebayo, said that Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has introduced five BVrevolutionary services to improve the lives of the citizens.

Adebayo said this at the Indo-Africa ICT Expo 2018 noted that the revolutionary services would ease life especially in rural areas and generate revenues for the Federal Government. Such services include:

• NIPOST banking and insurance
• NIPOST property and development
• NIPOST transport and logistics
• NIPOST e-commerce and
• NIPOST e-governance.

Why is NIPOST doing this?

The minister noted that the NIPOST banking and insurance services are in line with the CBN’s financial inclusion drive assuring that the agency will leverage on its 1,500 locations across the country.

Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with stakeholders launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy on 23rd October 2012 which is aimed at further reducing the exclusion rate to 20% by 2020.

Specifically, adult Nigerians with access to payment services is to increase from 21.6% in 2010 to 70% in 2020, while those with access to savings should increase from 24.0% to 60%, and Credit from 2% to 40%, Insurance from1% to 40% and Pensions from 5% to 40%, within the same period.

The E-commerce will be responsible for online buying and selling and shipment of goods and services to the public.

He said the property and development service was to ensure that all the extra lands of the agency scattered all over the country were properly leased out. According to him, it will be leased to private sectors for shops and any other facility that would create income.

In his words:

“Transport and logistics service will ensure commercialization of NIPOST fleet of vehicles which currently are used to carry reduced postal materials, as people no longer have a course to write letters.” Adebayo said.

The Nigeria Postal service Department came into being with the establishment of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) on January 1, 1985.

NITEL emerged from the merger of the Telecommunications arm of the defunct Post and Telecommunications Department of the Ministry of Communications with the former Nigeria External Telecommunications Limited (NET). Through the promulgation of Decree No. 18 of 1987, NIPOST became an Extra-Ministerial Department.