Nigerian govt to carve out five companies from NIPOST

The Federal Government is set to carve out five companies from the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), according to the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu.

Shittu, in an interview with PUNCH on Monday, said the effort, which is being carried out by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), was to reform the postal service and put it on the path of profitability.

Among the new companies to be carved out of NIPOST are banking and insurance, transport and logistics, property, e-commerce and e-government.

An independent regulatory body for postal and courier services will be created, while the new companies are expected to commence their operations with some assets of the postal agency currently being underutilised or not in use.

“The icing on the cake will be the reforms that we are bringing to NIPOST. By the grace of God, in the next few months, five new companies will emerge from NIPOST.

Shittu said, “One will be the NIPOST Banking and Insurance Company; we have the NIPOST Transport and Logistics Company; we have the NIPOST Property and Development Company. We also have NIPOST e-Commerce Services Company, and we have the NIPOST e-Government Services Company.

“We have the steering committee of which I am the chairman. The National Council on Privatisation is expected to give approval for the appointment of a transaction adviser, who will put all the structures in place.

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He added that, “These initiatives will create more jobs for Nigerians. It will provide more services to Nigerians, particularly those who live in rural areas. It will also open new floodgates of revenue streams for the government.

“We have also secured funding for Galaxy Backbone Phase Two to provide interconnectivity to all Federal Government offices, agencies and institutions everywhere in Nigeria. Everywhere will be connected to one portal in order to aid our e-Government initiative.”

The emergence of internet has left the operations of NIPOST scuffling, making reform of the organisation a necessity in order conform with the current trend. To this end, a bill to the effect is already in the National Assembly.

One of the areas that NIPOST believes that it can tap into for new businesses is the exploitation of its vast network, which stretches from urban communities to rural areas, where other forms of communications, banking services and government presence are minimal.

 

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