By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has disclosed that plans were on the way for the partial commercialisation of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) in 2020.
Post Master General/Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Mr Bisi Adegbuyi, announced at an interactive session with newsmen at the nation’s capital, Abuja on Tuesday.
He noted that already, the National Council on Privitisation has commenced work on the partial commercialisation of NIPOST, adding that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has also appointed a world class advisor to realise the objective.
He also added that as part of plans to ensure total turnaround of the post offices across the country, there would be automation of all NIPOST services as well as digitization of the organization, assuring members of staff that they would not be relieved of their job; rather new jobs would be created upon completion of the exercise.
According to him, “I am setting an agenda for the new NIPOST which is beyond mail delivery. It would render services that would touch the lives of all Nigerians.
“There will be bonding. Government will realise that it has a parastatal it can use to reach the people, especially our people who live in the rural areas for communication and delivery of social economic development.”
He also used the opportunity to clarify that there was no animosity between NIPOST and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in the collection of stamp duty.
The NIPOST boss said that the collection of stamp duty as established in the Stamp Duty Act was the duty of the country’s postal agency, stating that the stamp duty is supposed to be one of the major revenue earners for the government for infrastructural development.
Mr Adegbuyi said the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) had also issued a circular to NIPOST on the collection of both physical and electronic stamp duty of N50 hence, no reason for conflict between agencies.
The Post Master General of NIPOST further disclosed that a committee has been constituted to audit banks that collect stamp duty to ensure that actual amount collected by them is remitted to the stamp duty account which is part of the Federation Account.
He assured that the NIPOST management and staff were committed to ensuring that the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari delivers on its mandate in line with Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
He also said that the postal service had collected N45.8 billion as proceeds from stamp duty as of December 13, 2019.
