NIPOST Seeks Exemption From Okada Ban

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), has made an appeal to Rivers State Government to exempt it from the ban placed on the use of commercial motorcycles (Okada) in some parts of the state, particularly Port Harcourt metropolis and Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

NIPOST public relations manager in Port Harcourt, Mr. Godwin Akpan who made the appeal in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, recently, said though the ban is a welcome development, it is negatively affecting the operations of NIPOST as a social service  organisation in the state.

Mr. Akpan explained that because of the ban, each of the organisation’s motorcycles used in dispatch services in the state was being made to pay mandatory sum of ten thousand naira (N10,000) to the Rivers State Government to obtain permit saying that as a non-profit organisation involved in social service delivery in the state, the mandatory sum was negatively affecting its operations.

The public relations manager stated that NIPOST is a law abiding corporate citizen that would always comply with code of conduct and other traffic regulations stressing that exemption of NIPOST from the ban of commercial motorcycle operations that was effective from 2009, would expand its delivery of social services in the state.

The NIPOST image-maker further disclosed that the use of GSM in Nigeria, instead of posing a competitive threat on NIPOST, has rather made it to be proactive and information technology-driven in order not to be moribund like NITEL.

“The GSM has impacted positively on NIPOST because, we are also following the trend. Before, we could remit money through postal order, but because of ICT, we now use post cash which enables customers to remit money within 30 minutes to any part of the country,” he said.

He noted that the use of GSM text messages is a good means of sending out messages but regretted that the habit is fast affecting the ability of Nigerian students to spell words correctly.

Mr. Akpan also stated that Rivers and Bayelsa states recorded low utilisation of NIPOST mail box renting services. “We have 40,000 boxes but about 18,000 are rented”, he remarked, adding that the organisation intends to step up its awareness campaign through mass media to encourage more renting of mail boxes in the states.

He noted that inspite of  the emergence of GSM in Nigeria, the demand for NIPOST services remained solid as most of the mail boxes were filled with letters, and called on owners of mail boxes to endeavour to clear their boxes of letters regularly, as irregular evacuation of letters from the boxes posing serious challenges to NIPOST.

Chris Oluoh