Advent Of GSM Not A Threat To Survival Of NIPOST

[Shola Sholaz]

To an average Nigerian, NIPOST is only saddled with the responsibility of postal services and nothing more.
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The main service to Nigerians is just buying of stamps to post letters  within and for external services. Before the advent of the mobile telephone services, many Nigerians have virtually lost hope in this main service because of lateness in the delivery of mails and loss of mails while on transaction to some cases.
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In modern days, the introduction of the Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) has virtually taken over the services rendered  by NIPOST which was mainly dissemination of information through letter writing.
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However, an investigation carried out shows that besides postal services, NIPOST also carries out some other essential services which are generating more revenue for the agency and which have contributed to the survival of NIPOST till now.
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Our correspondent reliably gathered in Minna that rather than discourage or completely take over the services of NIPOST, the introduction of the GSM has served as a "wake-up call" to the management to look more inwardly for survival and this has worked.
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Some of the services intensified on by the agency include Post Cash services, Cargo services, Expedited Mail services (EMS) and the use of Speed Post among others.
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In an interview, the Area Manager of Niger Territorial headquarters of NIPOST,  Alh. Garba Argungu told our correspondent that the introduction of the GSM has not taken over the responsibilities of NIPOST but rather pushed the agency to act more positively.
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"We have introduced Post Cash services whereby a customer can send money from a point to another especially where commercial banks are not in existence. All you need to do is to have a code sent to the receiver who instantly collects the amount sent through the post office in his domain immediately," the Area Postal Manager explained.