ANCO expresses mixed feelings over passed Postal Commission Bill

Lists areas of concern in the bill

 

Private courier operators in Nigeria under the aegis of Association of Nigeria Courier Operators (ANCO), have expressed mixed feelings over the recently passage Nigerian Postal Commission bill by the Senate.

The Bill with 30 parts and 126 clauses, including two schedules had suffered setbacks at the National Assembly since 2004 and was finally passed as an Act in June 2021.

Mr. Okey Uba, president, Association of Nigeria Courier Operators (ANCO), in a statement issued to the press described the Bill’s passage as a welcome development; but with some areas of reservations.

Uba, said that the Bill when given Presidential assent will see to the emergence of robust independent regulator for the industry.

The ANCO statement reads: “We wish to commend the 9th Assembly for the passage of the long awaited Postal Commission Bill.

“The bill when given presidential assent will see to the emergence of an independent regulator known as the Nigerian Postal Commission.

“This is a welcome development and the two recognized associations of Courier practitioners in Nigeria are not averse to the passage of this bill.

“However, we wish to state and bring to the front burner one more time that our submitted inputs and concerns about the bill during the Senate public hearing have not been taken into consideration.

“This stems from the fact that certain provisions or components of the bill which are inimical to our business, operations and continued existence are still embedded in the bill”.

This, the President of ANCO said, constitutes a bad omen for the licensed players and would be investors in the postal and courier industry as the desired return on investment may become a mirage if and when implemented.

“We wish to state that in the course of the public hearing, our associations raised our concerns and what we are averse to as enumerated below:

“We are against/ bothered about the 2% of companies’ annual turnover being paid to the government in view of other payable taxes such as V. A.T., annual income tax, education tax, local government levies etc.

“On the other hand, we suggested that this should come in form of a commission that would be borne by the consignor which is the fulcrum of the 2% contribution to the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

“That the exclusivity /exclusive right of shipment weighing 1kg being granted the public post operator alone does not augur well for the industry as it is not in line with international best practices as this will give undue advantage to the public post thus creating an unfair operating environment for investors.

“Our suggestion was that private operators should be allowed to operate in this space and charge three times higher than what the public post is offering.

“That, the fixing of physical postage stamp for any transaction above 1000 naira would be cumbersome.

“Our suggestion was that this could be done electronically.

“That our existing licence shall become invalid 6 months after the coming into being of the Postal Commission is of great concern to us and would have grave consequences as this would amount to serious loss of investment and investors’ confidence and deepen unemployment which the current government views with serious concern.

“Our argument is that our licenses should subsist as most of the practitioners have been in practice for several years.

ANCO implored the intervening authority to one more time take a critical look at its inputs with a view to having them included and the issues raised addressed “so that we can have an enabling and investment friendly postal and courier sector that is capable of creating employment opportunities and return on investment and ultimately more revenue for the government”.