DESPITE the Internet opening up the world and bringing it closer, the importance of the postal services cannot be under estimated.This was the submission of the Post Master General of the Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba in Lagos at the weekend, stressing that, though ICT has had a tremendous impact on the operations of the Post but much as people think that the impact has been negative, however, the opposite was the case.Presenting a paper titled: 'The Impact of ICT on Postal Operations and the Future of the Postal Sector', at the Convergence Forum, Baba reckoned that as people increasingly turned to web-based and mobile communication methods to transact their businesses, the questions that are frequently asked these days concerning the relevance or otherwise of postal service include: Is the Post office still in existence' Do people still need the Post office' Is the Post still relevant in the modern society' 'But whichever way one looks at the questions, it suffices to say that the emergence of new methods of communication has not in any way diminished the role and importance of postal services in our society.'Baba reiterated that the postal sector has been largely unaffected by the renaissance that is transforming other areas of infrastructure. 'For as long as people believe in getting instant responses through electronic messaging it has proved very difficult to change their mind set to believe that the emergence of ICT is actually complimenting the postal services.'The Post Master General opined that with huge challenges facing the global community in the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and the World Summit on Information Society objectives, the Postal sector is readily a partner of choice, and is committed to working closely with governments, private sector, international organizations and representatives of the civil society to bring the information society within the reach of millions of people who currently lack access to the Internet or to information and communication technologies.According to him, the postal services do not operate in a vacuum, but that they offer services which influence and are in return influence by a series of social and economic factors.He explained that over the last few years, the globalizaliston of exchanges of goods and services has shown dramatic acceleration and this includes the service industry, of which postal services are a part. ' As trade barriers have fallen, large and sophisticated multinational companies, which until now specialized in the expressed market, are looking more and more to take larger shares of the other international physical mail products. This has added an international dimension to the postal business. Postal administrations have begun to realize that they have to fight for the postal business, not only with competitors for physical mail, but also with the providers of new electronic communications products that have no national borders.'Indeed, Baba noted the explosive growth of the communications market has forced many Postal administrations to move beyond the core, physical mail business, adding that, they are now diversifying in order to broaden the range of services they offer their customers.He said presently, there are a number of hybrid postal products, which combine electronics with hard copy delivery. 'For the Postal sector in a number of countries, technology has been used as a generator of growth for physical mail.'Going forward, Baba said: 'I am inclined to believe that above all that has been said here today, many people are still wondering what the future holds for the Postal sector given the intense competition in the market. To those pessimists, I dare say that the future is very bright. The digital era no doubt presents enormous challenges and opportunities for the Postal sector and the good thing is that the Postal sector in many countries are partnering with the private sector, governments and corporate bodies to move the sector to the next level.
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