The Senate has begun moves to carry out
comprehensive reforms in the country’s postal industry and make it more
economically beneficial.The Postal Sector Reform
Bill, which has reached an
advanced stage, establishes the Postal Service Commission as the new regulatory
authority in the sector in place of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST).
Also, the Senate is processing another Bill,
which reduces the powers of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) to
regulate the use of emergency telephone numbers as part of the legislature’s
intervention in the drive to diversify the economy and make it more viable.
A report of the legislative investigation
carried out by the senate recommended that the current arrangement allowing
NIPOST to act as regulator and operator at the same time is a serious setback
to government efforts to revive the economy and take it out of recession.
According to Guardian report, Chairman of Senate Committee on
Communications, Gilbert Nnaji, who confirmed this yesterday, lamented what he
observed as “the erosion of public confidence in the country’s postal system,”
pointing out that the waning confidence was on account of the inability of
NIPOST to deliver on virtually all statutory obligations, including basic and
core postal services.
On the Nationwide Toll-free Emergency Number
Bill, Nnaji noted: “The aim is to prescribe primary emergency telephone numbers
for use in the country and to implement a nationwide system for the reporting
of emergencies to emergency service providers.”
Although the NCC had expressed reservations on
the ground that NCC Act provided for toll-free numbers, Nnaji maintained that
as long as NCC was not living up to responsibility in that aspect, the senate
had resolved to give the emergency number provision a legal backing.Senator
Gbenga Ashafa sponsored the Postal Sector Reform Bill, while Senator Isa Hamma
Misau sponsored the Toll-Free Bill.
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