"Business before now was booming for the
private courier operators in the country, most whom left the big foreign names
to start their own company after years of meritorious service. However the sub
sector now faces serious challenges and operators blame NIPOST for their woes"
MANY local private courier services
operators in Nigeria are fast winding up their businesses due to the
unfavourable business environment and poor regulation from the government owned
Nigeria Postal service, NIPOST.
Investigation traced the genesis of the calamity that has
befallen the private courier operators to the improper regulation from NIPOST
following its battle for survival when the telecoms revolution started
affecting the business of NIPOST.
Business is no more booming for the
private courier operators who once were actually the drivers of the industry,
and the operators blame the dual personality of NIPOST as an operator and a regulator
for their predicament.
It was gathered that the present state
of regulation in the industry, as well as government’s unwillingness to respond
to their plight made the fortunes of the sector nose-dive.
For instance, sometime in 2013, NIPOST
introduced new regulations into the industry, which according to the small
courier firms was cleverly designed to push them out of business.
NIPOST through its Courier Regulatory
Department, CRD introduced new licensing and renewal fees under which, new
companies or individuals seeking to float courier firm would forward
application form to the Senior Assistant Postmaster General, CRD, with the
license fee of N2m for domestic or national operation, or N10m for
international courier operations together with a non-refundable fee of N20,
000.
An inspection team from CRD would visit
at least five branches and head office of the prospective courier operator and
the success of the inspection entitle the prospective operator to a new courier
license.
Also, under the new fee regime, renewal
fee was pegged at N500, 000 for domestic operators while their international
counterparts are to pay N2m.
Some of the information required from
the prospective companies include, but limited to Certified True copy of
Certificate of Incorporation; Memorandum/Articles of Association; Company’s Tax
Clearance for the last three years (originals to be sighted); Leasehold
Certificate or Tenancy Agreement in respect of the company’s registered office
and Evidence or information to show capacity to operate courier service
including but not limited to indemnity insurance policy of Five Hundred
Thousand Naira, capital base of Two Million Naira or a bond of that value,
among others.
General Secretary, Association of
Nigeria Courier Operators, ANCO, Mr. Okey Uba revealed that courier
business requires expertise to succeed but that government left the huge
industry in the hands of NIPOST, which later considered it as an income
generating business that resulted to the introduction of new fees.
The NIPOST regulation brought into the
courier business a lot of businessmen who lack the expertise to manage a
courier firm but had the money to pay for the fees.
Unfortunately, investigations revealed
that the regulation from ANCO has not been able to flush-out the quacks because
it lacks statutory responsibility to do so.
Uba further revealed that
regulation from NIPOST has also not been able to prevent local government
officials and inter-state revenue collectors that harass courier trucks on
delivery trips across the country.
Very often he said that the trucks were
detained by the revenue collectors who are unaware of the importance of the
content of the truck to the courier clients saying that the industry needs a
separate commission for proper regulation.
Such commission, he should be able
relate with the several government agencies that harass courier trucks on
transit across the country.
He said that if there is a proper
regulation from NIPOST, the revenue collectors across the country that harass
courier trucks would be able to appreciate the difference between courier truck
and other commercial trucks that ply the nations highway.
Presently, there are those who engage
in courier business in the country without operational license from NIPOST, and
the regulator has not been able to effectively address the situation, even ANCO
has not been able to address.
It was discovered that there are
corporate bodies across the country that operate dispatch services offering
courier services. Such organisations include banks, eateries, transport
companies, legal and telecoms firms as well as government agencies.
It was also discovered that the
regulator is aware that almost every companies in the country have courier
services department that ply the road engaging in courier services on
motorbike.
According to Uba the pricing structure
of these other bodies as well as that of the transport companies that engage in
courier services is major a drain on their profit from the business.
According him, these companies can
collect any amount from their clients noting that the business of the private
courier services lacks professionalism.
Investigations revealed that NIPOST has
been doing everything to ensure that the private courier companies are driven
out of business by the kind of policies that is churned out by NIPOST.
Unfortunately, it was also discovered
that the planned convergence championed by the Minister of Communications
Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson in the draft national draft policy on ICT in
2012 did not favour the courier operators.
While the other sectors in the industry
have an unbiased regulator, only the courier operators do not have such.
General Manager, Courier Services,
Cross Country, Toyin Adeojo, who works for Courier Master, one of the
indigenous courier companies said that the cry of the private operator is a
Commission that will effectively regulate the industry.
He said that a level playing field must
be created in the sector so that there will be a restructuring avoid of
overlapping interests saying that the present state where NIPOST is both a
regulator and operator is contentious.
Adeojo who is also the Publicity
Secretary for ANCO revealed that there are certain things that the Courier
Regulatory Department, CRD of NIPOST should have been doing to protect their
interest but the officials of the department cannot do such because of what may
be the reaction of the top management of NIPOST.
Although Adeojo will not mention the
things, he however said that the annual renewal fee has since its introduction
affected the business of the operators.
He said that removing the sum of N500,
000 from their annual income at time when the fortune of the industry was
dwindling was a hard knock on the operators saying that in Ghana annual renewal
fee is in five years whereas for Nigeria it is once a year.
He disclosed that money bags make their
way into NIPOST and get the courier license without the required expertise
saying that their activities which are not checked by NIPOST is affecting the
survival of the private courier operator.
According to him, the present
unfavourable condition and the lack of proper regulation is responsible for the
non-payment of salaries of private courier staff.
He said that if the industry has a
regulator, individuals will not ply the road on motorbike as courier operators
noting that a situation where medical diagnostic centres do dispatch services
amounts to doing their job.
He explained that it is not the work of
medical diagnostic centres to use motorbike to carry blood sample from one part
of the city to another adding, “That is the work of courier operators. They are
not trained to do that. It is because no one is regulating them that is why it
is like that.”
He continued: “You can imagine Konga
that came into the country not too long ago, got registered as courier operator
because they can afford the N2 million”, saying that sometimes Cross
Country losses almost about N200.000 each week to the revenue collectors on the
highway due to improper regulation.
Investigation also revealed that the
failed privatisation plan of NIPOST is creating a major setback for the
industry as it is not allowing NIPOST to develop as an operator.
Some ANCO members believed that if
NIPPOST is privatised and a commission is established to regulate the industry,
NIPOST will not be able to churn out policies that will affect the private
operators.
For instance, in the regulation
guidelines of ANCO, anyone that wants to join must have studied a courier
related discipline in the university or worked in a courier firm for five years
in a senior management position.
Unfortunately, most those being
registered by NIPOST do not have such qualifications
He revealed that there is a Postal
Service Commission bill that was brought to the National Assemble during the
tenure of the later Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili noting that
efforts by ANCO to get the lawmaker to look at the bill have proved abortive.
While the crisis in the sector
continues and more private courier firms continue to close, ANCO said it has result
to counseling of its members on how to survival.
One of such measures, the ANCO scribe
said is the advice to its surviving members not to invest in opening of
branches across the country but instead they should form synergy with other
members that have business in other states of the Federation.
He said that the absence of an
independent regulator is preventing its members from considering merger options
adding that ANCO is working to protect its members from fraudulent clients.
He added that the complain that
telecoms revolution is affecting courier services was not true because in the
UK and America courier services is doing well despite the fact that the
telecoms revolution took place years ago in those countries stressing that “ours
is not doing well because courier services here is not organised.”
He said that while the foreign courier
companies get a single digit loan from the banks in Nigeria, the local private
operators get theirs at 30 per cent saying that that’s why we need a well
funded courier industry.
A business development manager in one
of the courier service company who do not want to be named revealed that
sometimes to survive they had to use NIPOST facility to do their job, saying
that that was why the industry needs the right kind of regulation.
When contact for comment on some of the
investigation discovered by our correspondent, Senior Assistant Postmaster
General and Head of the Courier Regulatory Department, CRD, Dr. Simeon Emeje
declined to give audience. Also questions send by text message to his mobile
phone were not responded to as at the time of filing this report.
However, Head of Enforcement, NIPOST,
Andrew Ibiloma disclosed that as a regulator, NIPOST is up to the task of
making sure that the environment is conducive for all operators to do business.
According to him, the enforcement team
was in Ilorin, capital of Kwara State last December for its oversight function
of the industry where six unregistered courier operators were clamped down on
adding that same month two others had their business shut down in Lagos.
Ibiloma revealed that very soon the
regulator will begin to address the issue of dispatch riders that do not
display stickers of the courier companies that they represent saying that
NIPOST is aware that there are some organisation that have logistic department
that engage in courier services and that it needs the support of the media to
tackle the menace.
He explained that if they are not
register with NIPOST to do courier service every courier job in that department
must be given to courier service companies warning that it is against the law
to engage in courier service without proper registration.
He said that there are banks like Union
Bank, Union Express, and Access Bank with registered courier company engage in courier
services adding that the Enforcement Team rely on the public for information
for us raid.
The two day conference, which holds at the Berkeley
Hotel Isaac John road Ikeja is designed to offer learning opportunity to young
West Africans on advanced blogging techniques, creative and branding
strategies, monetisation opportunities and structured business models and successful
digital business principles.
According to a press statement from the
organisers, the WBC will prove advantageous for Bloggers in all fields saying
that with blogging now fast becoming a lucrative business globally, WABC aims to
provide a networking opportunity for the Bloggers to meet and share their
knowledge.
