By Dwelleth Morountodun
In a bid to enhance the operations of Courier and Logistics services in Nigeria, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ibrahim Pantami,
on Thursday, approved new guidelines for Courier and Logistics operations in the country.
The approval SHARPEDNews learnt, is line with Section 62 of NIPOST Act 2004 to replace the former regulations which have been in existence since 2001.
Pantami stated in the letter of approval that the new regulations will no doubt enhance the regulatory powers of NIPOST in this subsector of the economy.
The new registration, according to the minister, is aimed at rejigging the logistic and courier ecosystem of the economy and significantly improve efficiency make courier and logistic operation more effective, in line with the present administration policy on ease of doing business.
Erstwhile regulations largely focused on the big players in the Courier industry with no clear cut role and guidelines for the SMEs, particularly the upstarts thereby creating laxity that caused the proliferation of the industry.
This was put into perspective as the new regulations that created six categories of licensing ranging from International operators, Regional State, Municipal or Intra-city, and giving consideration for special Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Licence.
NIPOST explained in the Regulations that the categorization is to enable the licensees to operate at their levels per time and scope, stating that the new regulations will assist SMEs to grow and create youth empowerment that will translate into employment opportunities for Nigerians.
The new guideline has made it possible for every operator irrespective of their category to be identified with specific address and location that is traceable to before and after engaging their service. This will eliminate the risk posed by dubious operators who may take advantage of poor control to operate illegally.
The categorization creates room for migration as a licensee has rights to migrate from a particular licence category to another but must do so in compliance with Section3(4) of these regulations as pertain to the desired licence category before the expiry date of the subsisting licence.
To maintain diligence, trustworthiness, the Regulations maintain among other things that an operator will be required to display in their offices list of prohibited and restricted courier and logistic items, to guide their customers.