CBN, NIPOST to collaborate on cashless policy

The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Postal Services are collaborating in the execution of the cashless policy enunciated by the apex bank, Postmaster-General of the Federation of Nigeria, Mallam Ibrahim Baba, has said. Baba who said this at the 2010 Annual Merit Award of NIPOST held in Abuja on Tuesday noted that the postal organisation has the network to reach unbanked communities across the country. He said, "The Federal Government has identified the important potential of the post as a medium of social and economic development that can be harnessed to stimulate improvements in the living standards of the people. "Furthermore, NIPOST and CBN are collaborating to harness the wide reach of the post office network to ensure financial inclusion for the unbanked and under banked rural population. "NIPOST therefore is currently undertaking the remodeling of post offices t o be Information and Communications Technology compliant so as to take advantage of these new opportunities." In collaborating with CBN, NIPOST will be rolling out new services such as cash transfer as well as warehouse Point of Sale terminals especially in rural communities. The NIPOST boss said NIPOST needed to take every possible opportunity to resolve the challenge of attaining financial independence. He said, "The Federal Government has been responsible for the funding of our personnel cost. This cannot continue forever. "We therefore need to redouble our efforts to create an efficient and profit-oriented postal service that would guarantee customer satisfaction and improved revenue generation in order to become financially independent." Baba said although the era of information technology has brought enormous competition to bear on NIPOST, it has also opened new opportunities waiting to be harnessed. According to him, there has been a tremendous increase in global commerce with resultant increase in the demand for logistics services. He added that the reform programme of the Nigerian postal sector was one response to the challenges posed by current imperatives. He urged workers to imbibe the necessary attitudinal changes and to cultivate the spirit of ensuring the satisfaction of customers in all operations of the postal system.
Click here to read full news..