Uche Usim and Benjamin Babine, Abuja
Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, has assured agitated 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 from the reform.
Receiving the leadership of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE), led by its President, Rev. (Dr) Nehemiah G. Buba, who paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday, Okoh said that NIPOST after the reform would still remain 100 percent entity of the Federal Government as the reform only aims at commercialising 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 zone 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.