Appoint competent hand for NIPOST

The Federal Government is about to appoint a new Post Master General for the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST). The move is expectedly creating anxiety among the staff and stakeholders amid the repositioning of NIPOST which now ranks the body among government highest revenue generating agencies into the Federation Account. The repositioning of the body and […]

The Federal Government is about to appoint a new Post Master General for the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST). The move is expectedly creating anxiety among the staff and stakeholders amid the repositioning of NIPOST which now ranks the body among government highest revenue generating agencies into the Federation Account.
The repositioning of the body and implementation of the Stamp Duties Act have put NIPOST on the same pedestal with its counterparts in advanced countries across the world. Before the new dispensation, the body had been bogged down by financial challenges such that it could hardly meet many of its obligations, including the payment of staff salaries, without government intervention.
Government was said to be funding the institution to the tune of N7 billion per annum. Today, the situation has been reversed as NIPOST not only realizes adequate internally generated revenue from Stamp Duties, it also has enough money left to carry out efficient postal services and pay staff salaries, among other obligations.
Naturally, different forces with diverse interests will jostle to head the institution that has grown to become about the third largest revenue earner for the nation after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Some forces are believed to be plotting to have their candidate assume that office because of their selfish interests. Should this be allowed to happen, it will be a reversal of the efforts to sustain the repositioning of NIPOST for good.
The humane and God-fearing Communications Minister, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, must have studied the giant strides made by NIPOST in recent times and those who were at the helm of the processes that brought about this impressive turnaround.
It will be a tragedy of gargantuan proportion for the nation in the event that green horns or those whose qualification for the job are only on paper, and not qualifications based on hands-on experience and insider knowledge.
So, what kind of Post Master General are stakeholders looking at to emerge for NIPOST? Stakeholders are angling for a selfless Post Master General, who is patriotic, independent-minded and somebody conversant with postal operations (a veteran of sorts), fearless to do good and advance the cause of the institution; and above all, somebody with the capacity to take our postal service to the next level. The person should necessarily be an insider in the system and must have been part of the on-going repositioning  efforts. The person must have a clear working of the system.
And as one stakeholder put it, “NIPOST left its Egypt after the repositioning efforts began. It can only get to its promised land with a captain that knows the system like the back of his hand, and not a captain to be imposed by some mafia for selfish reasons.” I share the stakeholder’s sentiment just as I believe those in authority, especially President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Communication, can do.
Babatunde Olawale is an IT Consultant based in Lagos