Reps propose financial autonomy for NIPOST

The House of Representatives has proposed financial autonomy for Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) to meet international best practices.

This came to fore on Thursday at a public hearing on the bills to repeal the Nigerian Postal Service Act and to amend the Stamp Duties Act, organised by the ‎House Committee on Telecommunications.

The proposed bills seek to give NIPOST the enabling environment to measure up with the advanced postal administration.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, in his welcome address explained that the dwindling oil revenue and the current global recession necessitated the need for the nation to diversify its economy.

He added that with the passage of the bills, NIPOST will be well positioned for the realisation of the Federal Government’s financial inclusion programme, which seeks to provide access to the un-banked and under-banked rural communities as key to poverty alleviation.

According to him, “The two Bills seek to give NIPOST the enabling environment to measure up with the advanced postal administration in the deployment of its infrastructure and human resources as well as attainment of financial autonomy to meet international best practices.

“The dwindling oil revenue and the current global recession have necessitated the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy especially for the present administration to achieve its change agenda. And NIPOST is believed to be one of such key agencies.”

However, the Post-Master General of NIPOST, Barrister Bisi Adegbuyi stated that most of the laws regulating the agency were obsolete, saying that there were five core challenging issues which necessitate that the extant Act be amended.

He pointed out that the punishments contained in the law were no longer relevant, adding that “of what use is a N20 fine or a N200 fine when the cost of prosecuting the offender is on the average N100,000.”

Adegbuyi stated that amendment such as the internet and the Point of Sale (POS)  machine have been captured as receipting medium, whose electronically generated receipts are to be denoted, adding that financial penalties have been introduced for a first offender, a second offender and a third or subsequent offender.

According to him, “The proposed amendments if approved and implemented will unlock the revenue potential of the stamping Protocol to generate huge revenue for the benefits of all the tiers of government

“The suggested amendments will also end the inter-agency rivalry, which is militating against the effective implementation of the stamping protocol. The amendments are recommended for the consideration and approval in the overall interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

During the technical session of the debate, all the stakeholders who presented position papers on the amendments supported the proposed bill saying that when passed into law, it would mark the beginning of ‎ a new era in the nation’s postal system.