The Nation

No plans to sell NIPOST, says Shittu

March 1, 2016 1:43 pm

Adebayo Shittu, the minister of communications, has assured that the federal government has no intention to sell the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

This is contained in a statement made available to the NAN on Tuesday in Abuja by Victor Oluwadamilare, his special assistant on media.

Shittu said the clarification became necessary because of insinuations making rounds on social media that the service would be sold.

He said “even a section of the Nigerian media also published stories that the ministry had concluded plans to hand over NIPOST to foreigners to manage.

“Ordinarily, we would have ignored the innuendoes as there is no truth in the said story, except for the likelihood of Nigerians being misled.

“To put the records straight, the government of the day has no plan, whatsoever, to either privatise NIPOST or hand it over to foreigners to manage.

“Our vision of the new NIPOST is a total transformation from being a mono-product service organisation to a one-stop multi-product service provider.

“The ultimate aim of the government is to make the agency a cash-spinning establishment that can make meaningful contribution to the country’s revenue base.”

The minister said rather than sell the agency, the present administration had put in place modalities that would ensure that its assets were well utilised.

This would entail diversification of services including rendering robust and all-inclusive financial services through the post offices across the country.

“It would also entail commercialising NIPOST’s fleet of vehicles, running a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and expansion of the stamp duties processes, among others,” he said.

Shittu said the ministry was committed to the sustenance of the nations institutions and legacies and “will never join the league of those hell-bent to sell off our common heritage”.

The minister has appointed new aides to assist him in the achievement of the goals of the ministry.

The appointees include Abdullah Adeyanju-Binuyo, special sssistant (technical) and David Awotunde, special assistant (administration).

Others are Victor Oluwadamilare, special assistant media and Razak Olubodun. All the appointments take immediate effect.