A wave of enthusiasm has swept through Nigerian social media as calls mount for Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, to spearhead the rejuvenation of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) in a bid to bolster the nation’s development.

Dr. BosunTijani initiated the conversation on the X platform, seeking input from Nigerians on their vision for an upgraded NIPOST. He emphasized the need for NIPOST, boasting over 1,180 post office outlets and 3,000 agencies, to play a pivotal role in Nigeria’s burgeoning digital economy.

He stated, “In our pursuit of a more robust digital economy, we cannot underestimate the significance of NIPOST.

“I invite you to share your aspirations for an ideal NIPOST in the comments.”

This post ignited a flurry of diverse perspectives and opinions as Nigerians shared their ideas for an improved NIPOST serving Nigeria.

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, CEO of Future Africa, envisioned an NIPOST akin to the National Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) but for logistics.

He advocated for NIPOST to become the backbone infrastructure for licensed courier companies, driving commerce and trade across the nation.

Jimoh Haadi Oluwaseyi, an X user, elucidated the reasons why NIPOST should receive heightened attention:

Last-Mile Delivery: Post offices perform an invaluable role in delivering physical goods, especially in remote areas with limited digital access.

They bridge the gap between the digital and physical realms, ensuring that parcels, documents, and important mail reach their intended recipients.

E-commerce Support: Despite the rise of online shopping, many e-commerce transactions rely on physical shipping and returns. Post offices offer essential services like tracking, secure delivery, and return logistics, facilitating the smooth operation of e-commerce platforms.

Financial Services: Post offices often provide banking and financial services, including money transfers, bill payments, and savings accounts.

These services cater to individuals without access to traditional banks or those preferring face-to-face financial interactions.

Identity Verification: Post offices are trusted entities for identity verification and address confirmation, a crucial aspect of online transactions and services.

They can play a pivotal role in providing reliable verification services.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Despite digital advancements, segments of the population still lack internet access or digital devices.

Post offices act as intermediaries by offering public access to computers, internet services, and assistance with online transactions, thereby reducing the digital divide.

In summary, post offices continue to be pivotal in supporting the digital economy, facilitating last-mile delivery, e-commerce, financial services, identity verification, and bridging the digital gap.

Calls for NIPOST’s overhaul grew louder as users like Modupe Okeowo shared experiences highlighting the need for modernization, such as the absence of POS payment options at post offices.

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TECH DIGEST – The Director General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE has charged the Information Technology ecosystem stakeholders to disrupt the status quo.
He stated this in Lagos while in a meeting with the IT stakeholders during a three day working visit to the state.

He said, “Come up with new business model, ways to change things, new organizational structure and disrupt the status quo which would accelerate digitalization.”

Mallam Abdullahi said, “As NITDA we look at digital transformation from two lenses, digitization which is using digital technology to enhance existing services and digitalization which is delivering rapid business innovation but to achieve that we need you, the startups. Innovation starts from the startups. We look at innovation as a process, which is taking ideas from inception to impact which can be very difficult.”

The DG said President Muhammadu Buhari has expanded the ministry’s mandates to cover digital economy because communications is just a technology which is a means to an end, but digital economy is using the technology to improve the economic status.

According to the NITDA boss, stakeholders were engaged on the formulation of the National Digital Economy Policy and agencies under the ministry keyed into the implementation of the policy adding that “NITDA’s focus is on the startups and IT stakeholders.”

He said, “We are here to share the Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP) which is anchored on these seven Pillars: Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Cyber Security, Emerging Technologies; and Promotion of Indigenous Content for feedback because the Agency doesn’t exist in isolation” which is the reason we have to carry the Stakeholders along in our implementation processes.”

DG NITDA identified six key strategic stakeholders; the entrepreneurs who innovate and start up business, higher institutions which enhances talent, government which is an enabler, corporate organization who absorb the human capital, venture capital, angel investors funding and the media that will promote the products.

The Director General assured that with the inputs from stakeholders, the government, being an enabler would take immediate steps into all suggestions and concerns raised.

In his remarks, one of the representatives of the Innovation stakeholder, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji from Future Africa, was of the opinion that government must work with the ecosystem to create synergy. He said “If the government doesn’t work with us as a matter of urgency, everything will crash, variants need urgent intervention”.

He said, “We can’t build talents in Lagos alone, it has to be from all parts of the country. If universities are being provided with laptops and internet connections, we as stakeholders can do the rest, especially when it comes to infrastructure; the government has to partner with private companies as well as building research facilities.” We have all the available resources but it would only go far when with the government partners with them, he added.

Mentioned regulation and considers NITDA as their regulator but showed concern as to other institutions that approach without NITDA’s knowledge.

Aboyeji lamented that “the biggest challenge and opportunity facing the Startup ecosystem is that most of its capital comes from foreign countries, unless NITDA empowers local capital, the returns will be going back to the foreign countries and Nigerians will not benefit from it and we have to work together to figure out the concerns that prevents our local companies from being able to incorporate locally.”

Another concern expressed by the stakeholders was the level of employability in IT hubs, how good the startup bill would be, public procurement and how to lower the barrier and the gaps between market and academic research.

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