- NIPOST deploying GPS, Global Addressing System for world class service delivery – Postmaster General
- As Abuja Zone flags of Last Mile Delivery scheme with 47 special purpose motorcycles
- COO tasks Global Mercantile, partners on standard service delivery
The Post Master General of the Federation, Barr Bisi Adegbuyi has said the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is already deploying innovations in postal technology, inclusive of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to change the narrative of NIPOST, adding that the Last Mile Delivery (LMD) is a key initiative which gains are already being harvested in some zones of the federation.
Adegbuyi who said NIPOST is being transformed into a customer-oriented market driven organisation that will leverage on world class technologies to drive service provision spoke spoke at the launching ceremony of Last Mile Delivery Scheme on Tuesday, in Abuja.
He said NIPOST has commenced the pursuit of customer-oriented best practices as well as the application of initiatives aimed at ensuring best service delivery.
Discussing the importance which NIPOST attaches to customers, the Post Master General said: “Customers are like our wives; if you don’t take care of your wife, somebody else will take care of her and take her away,” he said, adding that NIPOST has prioritised customer-satisfaction by ensuring that packages and parcels are promptly delivered in good condition.
“We are aware that we have competitors who are eager to win our customers over to themselves, but NIPOST will not allow DHL to take our customers away from us,” he said, adding that the launch of forty-seven special bikes to enhance the Last Mile Delivery scheme has come as a strategy to make NIPOST the most preferred service provider in the logistics industry.
“We are changing the narrative of NIPOST from a second class organisation to become the leading service provider in the logistics industry in Nigeria,” he said.
While commending NIPOST management team for resourcefulness and knack for change, he encouraged the team to perfectly execute their tasks and assured dispatch riders that management will continue to be provide all that is needed for the successful execution of their tasks.
He said in order to effectively deliver packages to those for whom they are meant, NIPOST will leverage on technology provided via the Digital Addressing System which will be launched soon.
“Gone are the days when dispatch riders return with undelivered mails to explain that they could not locate addresses as a result of poor addressing system,” he said, adding that NIPOST is leveraging on advancements in technology such as GPS to put an end to poor addressing system.
The Postmaster General further explained that NIPOST will deploy its massive national infrastructure to play a significant role in crime reduction, adding that a digital addressing system coupled with a digitalised address verification system will guarantee apprehension of criminals as they will be located via technological searches.
This he said will play a great role in crime reduction, adding that NIPOST will become even more relevant to Nigeria in view of the multifaceted innovations being pursued.
He explained that apart from authenticating Identity Cards produced by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), NIPOST will also ensure that effective postcodes are generated for all locations in the country in order to enhance the safety of online payment gateways.
He disclosed that in view of this and other very important targets of the Buhari administration, “His Excellency, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will, in his capacity as Chairman of the National Addressing Council, launch NIPOST’s hyper-specific digital addressing system soon.”
The Postmaster-General further explained that the Last Mile Delivery (LMD) scheme is at the heart of postal operations stating that it ensures that mails, parcels or packages are promptly delivered to customers in a manner that will give them the confidence that they have an efficient postal administration at their service.
He said the Last Mile Delivery program of NIPOST is a project that will take maximum advantage of the e-commerce ecosystem, a system that is exponentially growing. “These days, a lot of people buy a lot of items online and we are keying into ecommerce to play a significant role there,” he added.
While recalling that e-commerce giants in Nigeria recently acknowledged the advancement which NIPOST has made in recent time, Adegbuyi explained that NIPOST “with its rich resource of staff and experience has the capacity to drive the responsibility or assignment of delivering goods for the public.” This he said is in recognition of NIPOST’s vitality.
While saying that e-commerce shops spend an average of 30% of their profit on delivery cost, he explained that NIPOST has come to guarantee higher returns on their investments stating that with NIPOST, the cost of delivery is significantly reduced. In view of this, the importance of Last Mile Delivery cannot be over emphasised especially in the current scheme of things where Nigerians now place orders for goods that will be delivered at their door steps.
He said the Last Mile Delivery scheme is specifically designed to leverage on appropriate technology in order to enhance it.
“We have connected the forty-seven Special-Purpose motorcycles to NIPOST IBS,” he said, adding that the significance of connecting them to NIPOST IBS is that a customer can monitor the dispatch rider assigned to him via the IBS.
“The Nigerian postal service has taken the bold step of leveraging on innovative technologies as way of making postal delivery more robust and rewarding.
“As a nation, Nigeria is making good progress and we are not unaware that we have competitors who know us and whom we also know, but we are confident in the assurance that our competitors do not have what we have to make the difference we aim.”
According to the Postmaster-General, NIPOST has an unrivalled spread across the country and has an advantage which its competitors do not have.
“So our competitors rely on NIPOST to do the Last Mile Delivery for them because NIPOST’s network extends to the nooks and crannies of this country,” he stated.
He said: “Nigeria has massive landmass and we are set to cover this country in phases; we have flagged off the LMD Scheme in Lagos Zone, and we have also flagged it off in Abuja Zone, and we will further flag-off the project in all other zones across the country.”
“We will not just embark on LMD, we will also couple it with appropriate addressing system in order to ensure that the dispatch rider locates the targeted destination,” he said.
“NIPOST has divided Nigeria into three-hundred-and-thirty-billion three meters by three meters grid in order to reach even the minutest location via GPS,” adding that the strategy is to enable NIPOST get to every spot in the country.
“The strategy is designed to leverage on the advancements in technology, especially GPS to locate wherever needs to be reached by the dispatch rider or postman.
“NIPOST is not alone in the pursuit and realization of this objective, we have credible and responsible partners in the logistics sector who shares our vision for innovation and progress,” he said.
He said in terms of boosting the economy, NIPOST is set to contribute significantly to the federation account, adding that apart from taking advantage of the Last Mile Delivery, the organisation is also leveraging on another innovation in postal technology such as the electronic stamp.
He said while this is being done, NIPOST will pay a pivotal role in creating employment along the information value chain, adding that electronic stamps will be sold to people in such a way that stamping protocols will create another economic activity.
“NIPOST’s address verification system has been adjudged by the United Nations and the World Summit on Information Societies as sufficiently leveraging on ICT to create e-employment,” he added.
While saying that NIPOST will guard against all manner of destructive technology within the logistics system, he assured that as an organisation, it will further leverage on existing opportunities to saturate all Nigeria with such massive national infrastructure such that it will sustainably change the narrative of NIPOST.
According to the Postmaster-General, NIPOST will use its post offices as public access venues, he recalled that the high regards enjoyed by postmasters in the past is already being restored in view of the ongoing revitalisation of postal technology in Nigeria, adding that the emergence of technology should not be misunderstood as an end to postal services.
The General Manager, Abuja Zone, NIPOST, Mr Austine Iroamachi who commended the Postmaster-General for innovations he has instituted in NIPOST, described the Last Mile Delivery as “most pivotal in the mail supply chain” adding that it impacts the collection and distribution portfolios.
The Chief Operating Officer, NIPOST, Yahaya Rufai commended the development partnership between NIPOST and Global Mercantile and Logistics Limited (GMC) and described it as a demonstration of commitment to excellence in service delivery.
“This collaboration demands that GMC enhances the Last Mile Delivery such that the quality of NIPOST’s mail delivery services will be stepped up to world class standards,” Yahaya added.
