n
order to boost the operations of courier/logistics companies, create
employment and grow ECOWAS economies, seasoned and tested experts have
advised on the need for a robust transportation system, postal
commission to harness business opportunities/innovation in movement of
goods and materials in the region. And if this must be achieved,
governments, private sectors as well individuals have their roles to
play
.At the 5th Bowill Errand annual public lecture organised in partnership with NIPOST and Lagos state Ministry of Transportation, Managing Director/CEO, Siyanbola A. Oladapo, said, the benefits derivable from the existence of a large market in the West African sub-region remain a strong reason for the optimal utilization of the potentials of cross border trading within the sub-region.
“The market in the sub-region is estimated at a population of 308.66million out of Africa’s 1.04billion, with a Gross Domestic Product of $359.5million as at 2011. Proximity, cohabitation, similar cultures, democratic governance and the existence of regional organizations like Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to drive trade within the West African States and this is what my focus which is the postal sub sector of the economy should latch on”.
“We have gone international this year so that our courier operators can look beyond Nigeria and see vast business opportunities in this sector, so that there could be better understanding and improved relationships among West African operators”.
According to Oladapo, harnessing the potentials of trade within the West African coast has become necessary in the face of globalization and a major indication of existing investment potentials can be seen in the GDP growth rates recorded and estimated for the West Coast. The latest figures of the world GDP growth rates (as at February 2012) show that Africa and indeed West Africa has one of the highest rates, with Ghana for instance coming second with 13.5% only after Qatar in the world ranking, though the estimate could be explained by the recent discovery of oil in commercial quantity.
In addition, he said, there is need to establish postal commission in Nigeria where operators could go outside of NIPOST which has become the regulator and a player. I look forward to a day when the Postal sector in Nigeria will be revolutionized like the telecommunication sector; where we will be playing a leading role in Africa, where we shall rival the best postal sector in the world, generate massive employment for this nation, when we shall be independently regulated, when professionalism shall take the centre stage, when financial institutions shall fall over each other to fund postal sector.
Be yhat as it may, the postal service is not without challenges of multiple taxation, inability of government agencies to differentiate between okada riders and courier riders. And the issue of unregistered operators that spoil business for licensed operators.
In addition, Lagos state transportation commissioner, Hon. Kayode Opeifa, said, to help provide easy flow of business activities, movement of goods and materials, Lagos builds 200 roads every year. He said, Lagos has opened many sea ways for movement of people and goods; railway transportation is no more a thing of the past and Lagos state is perfecting plans to link to other states and neighbouring West African countries through rail transportation system. He provided landcape charts on the achievement of the state under the present administration of Lagos state.
Managing Director/CEO, Marflex Logistics, Ranti Shobande disclosed that this annual public lecture has been a market place of ideas for courier operators and other stakeholders where we generate ideas to move the courier industry forward, generate employment and also contribute our quota to nation building, so that at the end it will add to the economy. Shobande agreed that the annual lecture is a value adding lecture because both the practitioners and stakeholders have something to benefit in terms of ideas and policies can be formed from it.
In the same vein, Executive Secretary, Ghana Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission, Isaac Annan Riverson, said, the inventions of railroads and automobiles took this industry to the next level, saying once interstate highways were built, couriers could travel across a nation via smooth blacktop with packages in tow. He further said that in Africa the courier industry consists of entirely small, locally owned and operated businesses which are striving to ensure that revenue is retained within their respective countries rather than having same siphoned off by multi-national corporations.
Riverson identified manual systems as one of the challenges among others that adversely affect the operations of indigenous African courier operators and this has resulted in the existence of a general uncertainty about whether items are delivered or collected on time. He further said that solution to this challenges lies best in technology – adopting and customizing the appropriate technology, saying that globalization and advancement in technology have indeed brought changes to the industry including the use of sophisticated technology in operations and management.
He advised that there is the need to break, as it were, the boundaries that segregate countries within our sub-region, saying it makes it difficult for courier operators within our respective countries to deliver consignments outside their geographical borders. He insists that if postal services must achieve results in their operation like what is obtainable in Ghana, government and other regulatory authorities should establish Postal and Courier Services regulatory Commission Act in Nigeria.
.At the 5th Bowill Errand annual public lecture organised in partnership with NIPOST and Lagos state Ministry of Transportation, Managing Director/CEO, Siyanbola A. Oladapo, said, the benefits derivable from the existence of a large market in the West African sub-region remain a strong reason for the optimal utilization of the potentials of cross border trading within the sub-region.
“The market in the sub-region is estimated at a population of 308.66million out of Africa’s 1.04billion, with a Gross Domestic Product of $359.5million as at 2011. Proximity, cohabitation, similar cultures, democratic governance and the existence of regional organizations like Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to drive trade within the West African States and this is what my focus which is the postal sub sector of the economy should latch on”.
“We have gone international this year so that our courier operators can look beyond Nigeria and see vast business opportunities in this sector, so that there could be better understanding and improved relationships among West African operators”.
According to Oladapo, harnessing the potentials of trade within the West African coast has become necessary in the face of globalization and a major indication of existing investment potentials can be seen in the GDP growth rates recorded and estimated for the West Coast. The latest figures of the world GDP growth rates (as at February 2012) show that Africa and indeed West Africa has one of the highest rates, with Ghana for instance coming second with 13.5% only after Qatar in the world ranking, though the estimate could be explained by the recent discovery of oil in commercial quantity.
In addition, he said, there is need to establish postal commission in Nigeria where operators could go outside of NIPOST which has become the regulator and a player. I look forward to a day when the Postal sector in Nigeria will be revolutionized like the telecommunication sector; where we will be playing a leading role in Africa, where we shall rival the best postal sector in the world, generate massive employment for this nation, when we shall be independently regulated, when professionalism shall take the centre stage, when financial institutions shall fall over each other to fund postal sector.
Be yhat as it may, the postal service is not without challenges of multiple taxation, inability of government agencies to differentiate between okada riders and courier riders. And the issue of unregistered operators that spoil business for licensed operators.
In addition, Lagos state transportation commissioner, Hon. Kayode Opeifa, said, to help provide easy flow of business activities, movement of goods and materials, Lagos builds 200 roads every year. He said, Lagos has opened many sea ways for movement of people and goods; railway transportation is no more a thing of the past and Lagos state is perfecting plans to link to other states and neighbouring West African countries through rail transportation system. He provided landcape charts on the achievement of the state under the present administration of Lagos state.
Managing Director/CEO, Marflex Logistics, Ranti Shobande disclosed that this annual public lecture has been a market place of ideas for courier operators and other stakeholders where we generate ideas to move the courier industry forward, generate employment and also contribute our quota to nation building, so that at the end it will add to the economy. Shobande agreed that the annual lecture is a value adding lecture because both the practitioners and stakeholders have something to benefit in terms of ideas and policies can be formed from it.
In the same vein, Executive Secretary, Ghana Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission, Isaac Annan Riverson, said, the inventions of railroads and automobiles took this industry to the next level, saying once interstate highways were built, couriers could travel across a nation via smooth blacktop with packages in tow. He further said that in Africa the courier industry consists of entirely small, locally owned and operated businesses which are striving to ensure that revenue is retained within their respective countries rather than having same siphoned off by multi-national corporations.
Riverson identified manual systems as one of the challenges among others that adversely affect the operations of indigenous African courier operators and this has resulted in the existence of a general uncertainty about whether items are delivered or collected on time. He further said that solution to this challenges lies best in technology – adopting and customizing the appropriate technology, saying that globalization and advancement in technology have indeed brought changes to the industry including the use of sophisticated technology in operations and management.
He advised that there is the need to break, as it were, the boundaries that segregate countries within our sub-region, saying it makes it difficult for courier operators within our respective countries to deliver consignments outside their geographical borders. He insists that if postal services must achieve results in their operation like what is obtainable in Ghana, government and other regulatory authorities should establish Postal and Courier Services regulatory Commission Act in Nigeria.
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