Harmonisation, policy review key to repositioning Nigeria’s logistics industry – Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the courier and logistics industry have highlighted that harmonisation among the arms of government, policy review, and compliance for registration of courier firms are the ways to reposition the industry.

This was made known last Thursday at the Nigerian British Chamber Of Commerce (NBCC) event, themed ‘Repositioning Nigeria’s logistics and courier services sector for sustainable growth’.

“Harmonisation is required for the arms of government, policy review which will drive legislation, voluntary compliance for regulators to register,” they said while adding that this is required on the roadmap to reposition the courier and logistics industry.

“There is the need for technology innovation to back up so that we can be independent and we can create a logistics and courier service sector that is efficient, resilient and capable of supporting Nigeria’s economic ambitions,” Ray Atelly, president and chairman of the council at NBCC said.

Tola Odeyemi, CEO of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) said “We are looking for a way to partner more and for NIPOST it is an opportunity for companies to partner with us on warehousing and there is an entire value chain that there is a lot that we can do together.

“We need to harmonise people with standards across the continent,” she said while adding that Nigeria is currently pushing to revamp and upgrade logistics and courier processes to world-class standards for improved international mail exchange.

“There is work ongoing on the Postal Reform Bill to separate the regulatory arm from the operation arm as many stakeholders are clamouring. By 2027, NIPOST is modernising 50 percent of its 1,400 office locations and we are open to working with partners to advance the country’s logistics ecosystem,” NIPOST boss said.

Read also: ‘Technology is helping us bring transport and logistics services to every Nigerian’s doorstep’

She said the Federal Government of Nigeria is committed to making NIPOST an affordable, last-mile delivery hub solution for goods and services.

Oludotun Shonde, general manager of the courier and logistics regulatory department of NIPOST said the parastatal provides development opportunities.

“There are certain laws that reside with the state government and in a bid to have enough revenue then policy and strategic management is underplayed,” he stated while imploring state government to key with the concurrent list of government.

He said NIPOST has deployed technology and leveraged on that. “We expect a weekly or monthly delivery analysis from courier and logistics companies for us to have the data which is beyond NIPOST.”

Simon Emeje, executive chairman of Courier and Logistics Management Institute said the problem stems from the fact that there needs to be awareness for the government to know more about the courier and logistics industry to help the operators do their job seamlessly.

“The issue of regulation is key because the power of regulation is the power of the government to put an eye into what is going on with the Courier and Logistics Industry,” he stated.