The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami has directed the Nigerian Postal Services NIPOST to suspend the new tariff on registration of courier services in the country.
Reacting to complaints by Nigerians on the new hike, the Minister under whose purview the supervision of NIPOST falls, took to his Twitter handle to reiterate the position of the Federal Government on the increament. He tweeted;
Pls @NipostNgn, our attention has been drawn to an increase of licence fee, which was not part of the regulation I earlier APPROVED for you. Your Chair and PMG were YESTERDAY contacted to put the implementation on hold and send a report to our ministry by Monday. Best wishes!
— Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim, CON (@ProfIsaPantami) July 25, 2020
Dr. Pantami also clarified that “the power of regulation of NIPOST lies with the Minister, any change of fees must be approved by him“.
2) @NipostNgn, d power of regulation of NIPOST lies with the Minister. Any change of fee must be specific & be approved by him before implementation. I know the economic challenges of NIPOST. However, looking at the economic hardship of our citizens, we need to suspend any move
— Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim, CON (@ProfIsaPantami) July 25, 2020
I know the economic challenges of NIPOST. However, looking at the economic hardship of our citizens, we need to suspend any move” He tweeted.
In a statement signed by the Minister’s Spokesperson, Mrs. Uwa Suleiman, he said said that “This directive comes amidst ongoing efforts Minister to reposition the Postal Services sector for optimal efficiency, in line with global best practices and as enshrined in the Universal Postal Union (UPU)global resolution of September 2019″ .
The increase had earlier sparked outrage from a section of Nigerians mainly online on the decision by NIPOST to introduce costs of licence for logistics and courier services.
NIPOST had in a statement said that the fee was introduced as a part of new regulations aimed at upping ease of doing business, ‘rejigging’ the logistics and courier sector of the economy and improving the efficiency of the players in that sector.
The new regulation categorised logistics companies into international, regional, state, municipal or intra-city, and SME operators.
International operators are to pay ₦20 million as a license fee, national ₦10 million and regional operators ₦5 million. State, municipal and special SME operators are to pay ₦2 million, ₦1 million and ₦250,000 respectively.
Each operator, irrespective of the category, will pay 40% of the license fee as renewal fee annually.
“The new regulations that are a great improvement on the old one, are aimed to rejig the logistic and courier ecosystem of the economy and significantly improve efficiency, and make courier and logistic operation more effective, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration policy on ease of doing business,” said NIPOST’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Franklin Alao.
This is comming berely Hours after the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) rejected the 6% VAT in tenancy, leases STAMP DUUTY
