Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A.
Okoh has assured workers of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) that
the on-going reform of the postal service will not attract job losses or
retrenchment but will rather create more jobs in the subsidiaries that
would emerge after the reform.
Receiving the leadership of the National Union of Postal and
Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE), led by its President, Rev. (Dr)
Nehemiah G. Buba which paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday, August
26, 2020, the Director-General said that NIPOST after the reform would
still remain 100 percent entity of the Federal Government as the reform
only aims at commercializing its services and making it robust to
deliver more efficient postal service.
He informed the labour leaders that already three commercial
ventures-NIPOST Properties & Development Company; NIPOST Transport &
Logistics Company and NIPOST Microfinance bank Limited have been carved
out of NIPOST which the Bureau had completed the registration of
NIPOST Properties & Development Company and NIPOST Transport & Logistics
Company at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) while the process for
registration at CAC and also that of obtaining regulatory approvals from
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for NIPOST Microfinance bank had also
commenced.
The Director-General reiterated that the benefits of the reform of the
sector include, the Provision of efficient postal services and
utilisation of vast assets of NIPOST across the country; reduction in
funding from the treasury in terms of subventions to NIPOST and the
operation and growth of ancillary services and business to enhance the
overall efficiency of NIPOST to create more jobs.
He said in order to sensitize all the relevant stakeholders on the need
for the reform, the Bureau in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of
Communication & Digital Economy and NIPOST held zonal workshops in five
of the six geo-political zones of the country, except the North-Central
Zone which was to be held in Abuja but for the outbreak the worldwide
Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic.
The Director-General announced that the reform of the postal sector will
lead to the emergence of the Nigerian Postal Commission (NPC) as a
regulator of the sector to ensure efficiency, service delivery, and
check abuses. He said during a tour of some of the countries that have
effectively reformed their postal services and are reaping good
dividends, it was discovered that in China, for instance, its Postal
Bank has over 80 million customers because of its rural penetration and
given that most rural communities in Nigeria do not have access to
banking facilities, the emergence of NIPOST Microfinance Bank would be
beneficial to the communities.
On the request by the Union Leaders for the Bureau to intervene in the
impasse between NIPOST and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on
which of the organisations is statutorily required to collect stamp
duties in the country, Okoh assured them that the Bureau was already
interfacing in the matter and that soon, an amicable solution would be
reached.
The President of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications
Employees (NUPTE), Rev. (Dr) Nehemiah G. Buba commended the Federal
Government for initiating the reform which is now a reality. He
expressed delight over the visit as some of the issues pertaining to the
reform which were hitherto not known to the workers have been laid bare
by the Bureau.
He promised to go back and educate the NIPOST workers on the imperative
of the reform of the sector and appealed to the Bureau to always update
the union members on the progress of the reform.
It would be recalled that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) at
its meeting held on 31st October 2017, approved the reform of the Postal
Sector and the restructuring and modernisation of the Nigeria Postal
Services (NIPOST).
Further, Council also approved; the constitution of a Steering Committee
to be chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital
Economy, to drive the reform process and review the Postal Sector
Policy; the constitution of a Project Delivery Team (PDT) to serve as
the secretariat of the Steering Committee and to develop quick-fix
reform strategies to make NIPOST commercially viable, and the
appointment of KPMG as Transaction Adviser.