Indigenous operators have renewed their call for the creation of an independent body that will regulate the postal/courier industry. Will this not amount to duplication of regulatory agencies ?
Chief Executive Officer, Bowill Errands Limited, Siyanbola Oladapo believes a well-regulated courier industry will promote the growth of the nation’s economy, check capital flight and boost employment and income generation to the government.
“A well-developed courier industry will contribute about N10billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It will create employment opportunities and ensure that capital flight is checked,” he told The Nation.
It is in the realisation of the huge potential of the sub-sector to the economy that stakeholders in the industry gathered at the fifth Bowill Annual Public Lecture, in Lagos, to once again, press for the enactment of a law that will create an independent regulatory body for the sub-sector. The sector is lumped with the telecommunications sector and placed within the purview of the Ministry of Communications Technology alongside NIPOST.
In the beginning
One of the guest speakers at the forum, Executive Secretary, Ghana Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission, Isaac Annan Riverson who spoke on Harnessing business opportunities/innovations in movement of goods and materials in West Africa-Ghana Experience, said the courier industry has distinguished itself from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialisation and individualisation in the delivery of goods and materials across wide geographical areas.
Courier has been around for centuries. The earliest couriers were runners, horseback riders, and trusty homing pigeons that delivered messages in what was then considered a timely manner. “Those were the days before mechanised transportation was available so foot messengers ran for miles to reach their destinations, with very little reward,” he said.
The invention of railroads and automobiles took the industry to the next level with couriers travelling across the country through smooth blacktop with packages in tow when highways were opened. Bicycle and motorcycle couriers began popping up in large cities, transporting documents and other packages from one end of town to the other. Airplanes were eventually commissioned to deliver packages quickly over the longest distances.
In Africa, the courier industry consists of entirely small, locally owned and operated businesses which are striving to ensure that revenue is retained within their respective countries rather than having same siphoned off by multi-nati–onal corporations.
Lessons from Ghana
Riverson said the Ghana Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission was established as the regulator for the postal and courier sector in Ghana. Its establishment was part of measures to reform the postal and courier sector, with a view to creating a more liberalised and competitive postal and courier services environment. The Ministry of Communications promoted the enactment of the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission Act in 2003 and sets the Commission as an entirely separate regulatory body to license and regulate the operation of all postal and courier services in Ghana.
The functions of the agency are to promote and encourage the expansion of postal services for the social and economic development of Ghana; promote an efficient system for the delivery of mails countrywide in a manner responsive to the needs of mail users; promote fair competition among persons engaged in the provision of postal and courier services; protect licensees and consumers from unfair conduct of other licensees with regard to quality of postal services; promote generally the interest of consumers; and promote the advancement of technology related to the provision of postal services.
“With the establishment of the Commission, there has been tremendous improvement and promotion of business opportunities in the movement of goods and materials within and across Ghana. The hitherto unregulated operations of especially courier services has become a thing of the past and consumers and patrons of their services have been given an avenue, so to speak, to report any complaints that they may have against any operator.
The Commission also has in place a mechanism of resolving conflicts between operators and consumers, thereby sanitising the postal and courier sector in the country and collaborates with the security agencies in the country to assist in the enforcement of our mandate to achieve the objective of bringing all operators under our regulatory arm,” he said.
Case for Nigeria
If Nigeria borrows a leaf from Ghana, it will expand the postal market by encouraging entrepreneurs to invest into the postal/ courier sector.
The establishment of a separate Postal and Courier Commission for Nigeria will help accelerate the pace of the growth of the sector, so that it can contribute more to national development through job creation and tax revenue.
Analysts said it will enhance the collaboration with sister regulatory agencies to encourage and promote the provision of international courier services while firms in the courier, logistics, goods and material transportation in the country will be able to form strategic alliances with their counterparts in other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries with many cross-sell opportunities, in order to take advantage of the entire ECOWAS market.
Oladapo lamented that nearly all the bills that were presented alongside Postal Commission Bill to the Federal Executive Council by the former Information Minister Mrs Dora Akunyuli, have been passed. “The passage of this bill is long overdue. It will assist employment generation, standardisation of operation, encourage professionalism and open the market,” he said wondering if Lagos State, which is the commercial hub of the nation will have the capacity to handle the volume of local and regional business movement of goods and materials in West Africa.
Challenges of indigenous operators
There are so many challenges besetting indigenous operators. One is the use of manual systems in their operations. This has resulted in the existence of a general uncertainty about whether items are delivered or collected on time.
Most courier firms maintain keep records in delivery books or files. This manual system of managing deliveries or collections often results in poor coordination of service and poor customer satisfaction. Apart from wasting a lot of time, manual systems also lead to weak audit trails for deliveries.
Communication is another factor. Communication between ends is imperative to satisfaction and success. Senders of parcels therefore need to be notified of the status of their parcels and recipients notified when their parcels are due for delivery. Lack of delivery status and delivery notifications creates uncertainty among clients and they are likely to look elsewhere for results.
Indeed, it is not an easy game for local courier operators unlike foreign major companies such as FedEx, TNT, DHL and UPS who have the capacity to employ the most advanced technology. New challenges are emerging in the 21st century as courier operators and logistics companies have to cut costs but at the same time be flexible enough to meet customers’ ever growing demands.
Tough competition has made it essential for courier and cargo or logistics companies to have a sophisticated communication infrastructure for effective and efficient operations. A major selling point for many courier operators and logistics companies today is access to the delivery status of a consignment.
Technology to the rescue
The technology of the telephone and mobile telecommunications come in highly recommended – a dedicated hotline, toll free if possible, or SMS to a short code that yields spontaneous feedback always sets clients and providers at ease.
There is also the avenue of a website. A timely updated one can always serve as a tracking system that can be accessed by consumers to check the status of a consignment. With such a provision, the client is only a click away from interacting with a courier operator with regard to a delivery.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) that can be placed in every company vehicle so that its whereabouts can be traced instantly is another technology that could be deployed. Another is the hand held tracker which is an enhanced Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) complete with Wi-Fi and GPS that is carried by each courier to input data when the consignment is received by the customer or to update the status of the consignment.
Another is a pick-up & tracking system by means of which a customer can ask for a courier operator to pick up a consignment via SMS and also inquire about the consignment’s status.
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