AS POSTAL SERVICE GOES DOWN THE DRAIN: OBASANJO MUST HEAR THIS
By Taiye Olaniyi
As they say in Yoruba: "Agba ki wa ni oja ki ori Omo tuntun wo" which in a nutshell means that amidst the market gathering the elderly would ensure that a child is not wrongly backed by its mother.
The question then is what concerns former President Olusegun Obasanjo with the fate, fortune or misfortune of the Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST?
Many would agree with me that out of all the highly placed Nigerians, Obasanjo deserves a Nobel laureate prize for being the most prolific letter writer, especially on national issues that are worth mentioning both surreptitiously and openly for global citizens to read.
I doubt if any president, minister, or highly placed political stalwarts in Nigeria could be rated even at the nursery and primary levels in this regard. But in spurious documentation of earthly acquisitions of wealth and the filth that goes with such in Nigeria, one is sure of sliding tackles here and there.
With numerous letters written by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo then, one would and could not vouch that such letters passed through the mainstream of postal service, the Nigerian Postal Service courier outfit, EMS Nigeria, at risk of through other private courier outfits.
Social media in all their configurations on the handset and allied, give room for seeking an alternative channel to send messages without going through the postal service which by statutory dictates affords the most confidentiality, affordability and accessibility of postal packets in all ramifications.
Did President Olusegun Obasanjo affix postage stamps on his numerous letters to his successors, courier such letters in an official capacity or just through the innumerable social media platforms?
Whichever way the letters were addressed to the addressees by Chief Obasanjo, by not patronizing the typical nation's postal service many would assume Obasanjo had no confidence in the Postal Service and hence felt the social media could be more reliable in terms of speed and outreach. This impression could be right and wrong at the same time taking cognizance of the dwindling fate, fortune and image of the Post especially after Obasanjo left office.
I am inclined to mention that whereas Obasanjo might not have patronized the Nigerian Postal Service in his letter writings to his addressees, what the late Major General Agbazika Inih once mentioned to us after an interaction in the then Kwara College of Technology resonates in this regard.
According to Inih, "A man with a big head can as well have nice legs, if you concentrate on the big head, you overlook the nice legs."
Chief Obasanjo during his tenure as the president of Nigeria, contributed immensely to the progress report and trail-blazing image of the Nigerian Postal Service.
His love and commitment to the progress of the Postal Service endeared him to our beloved Postmaster General of the Federation/ CEO, the late Abubakar Musa Argungu and the entire staff of NIPOST.
Because the Postal Service then was meeting the delivery targets of 24-hour, 48-hour and third-day delivery to any part of the city, state and remotest part of the country respectively, Chief Obasanjo so believed in the entire staff that we could meet the challenge of 48-hour delivery to any part of the country and probably also to shorten the span at the international level.
Argungu and his management team were a toast while NIPOST itself became an agency of the Federal Government to be proud of and emulated. At the international levels viz at the forum of the Universal Postal Union, the Pan African Postal Union and other sub-regional configurations, the Nigerian Postal Service was world-renowned. World-renowned to such an extent was the formation of the West African Postal Conference domiciled in Abuja and the appointment of AbdulRaheem Kola Aduloju as the Assistant Secretary General of the Pan African Postal Union for two terms.
The demise of Abubakar Musa Argungu in the fatal plane crash of 2005 did not stop Obasanjo's interest in the development of the Nigerian Postal Service. With the appointment of Ibrahim Mori Baba as the Postmaster General of the Federation/ CEO of the Nigerian Postal Service, numerous repositioning efforts at improving the lots of public service by the Obasanjo administration were inherited by Ibrahim Mori Baba. Still, the Nigerian Postal Service was rated as a unique parastatal whose uniqueness aligns with the global best practice and was not only emphasized but upheld in the reform efforts of the Federal Government by Orosanye's Public Service Reforms.
That's the reason why NIPOST was not to be merged with any other government agency or parastatal.
The introduction of the Bureau of Public Service Reform had its seamy side on NIPOST where about ten thousand staff of the agency were forcefully disengaged without adequate provision for the payment of their retirement benefits.
This culminated in the loss of not less than 350 retired staff besides those who to date suffer deadly and debilitating ailments of all sorts.
Picketing and closures of NIPOST formations by the justifiably aggrieved retrenched and retired staff for non-payment of their entitlements greatly made the revenue drive nosedive, the quality of service drastically dropped and to date, the Nigerian Postal Service has not recovered from Public Service reforms.
The once once-upon-a-time Postal Service got lost in transit and the advent of everything politics in Nigeria after the administration of Obasanjo's aspiration for a glowing postal service is now lying in state in the mortuary and dustbin of the nation.
Politics or no politics, party leanings or none of it, the positive roles of Chief Cornelius Adebayo during Obasanjo’s era as president, and Dr Omobola Johnson during President Goodluck Jonathan's tenure, both as ministers introduced a great impetus to the direction the Nigerian Postal Service should be amongst the comity of other Postal Administrations.
After Omobola Johnson came the descent of the Nigerian Postal Service into the abyss of misfortune, sorrow and miseries of all sorts.
Politics and politicians in the supervisory ministry or Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, a number of those in the National Assembly and their retinue of special assistants and personal assistants held sway while the Nigerian Post daily gets cancerous in her statutory functions, functionalities, operations and obligations to global humanity that the Postal Service is supposed to serve and to serve creditably too.
With politics and politicians in vogue and at the helm of affairs, the question is can anything good come out of NIPOST?
The answer is capital "NO." The topnotchers in the ministry, national assembly and what have you, with politics and the usual penchants for whatever could be acquired by whom in cash and kind, the visible lack of interest in knowing, understanding and appreciating the Postal Service as a national infrastructure, it seems no visible progress report shall ever come out from the Nigerian Postal Service unless this inimical posture of government is redressed.
Worse still in the world global record, it is only in Nigeria that the organization has recorded the fourth Chief Executive Officer, Postmaster General within 8 years.
Worst still, there is virtually no iota of hope that anyone who is employed as a public servant in NIPOST would ever reach the peak of his or her career and become the PMG because of the roadblocks the political class has put in place.
Sad enough for Nigeria almost 45% of trained NIPOST staff will be retiring from service this year and next. The population of those brought by the politicians have little knowledge of what the postal service is, should, and how best they could help input patriotism and contentment into the clarion call of Nigeria our beloved country.
Should being a Minister and/or Postmaster General be only relishing in the dividend of democracy or being ready to learn, to be accessible, less suspicious of everyone and be appreciative of the herculean tasks of nation-building through the portal of the Nigerian Postal Service?
For us retirees of the Postal Service, those of us "Postmen," who still pride in the glory and grace of the Almighty for letting us see and glow His light during our passage through the Nigerian Postal Service and now outside, we shall remain eternally grateful to the Almighty God for letting us be who we were when there and now retired but tired.
Similarly, Voltaire once stated:
" The Post is that link that connects all affairs, all negotiations, by its means absence, becomes presence."
I remember that when Prime Minister Benazir Buttho of Pakistan came to Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo presented a stamp album as a souvenir to such an august visitor during the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, CHOGOM thus reinforcing the beauty of Philately and "Postage Stamp as a portrait gallery, miniature encyclopedia and living reminder of events."
I can't remember when last the Nigerian Postal Service issued a stamp as it once was and statutorily required it to be.
I also can't remember when last the Federal Government realized that the Nigerian Postal Service would be considered as an organization whose services may make or mar the image of Nigeria in numerous world bodies. A smear into the public relations outreach of Nigeria.
Herodotus while sinking into the mind of an average Postman says of us, "Neither rain, nor snow nor the gloom of the night shall deter the Postman from completing his appointed rounds."
The Post's Headquarters which Chief Olusegun Obasanjo once commissioned and named after late Abubakar Musa Argungu OON has started to decay because of politicians appointed as the Postmaster General/ CEO. By the way, is there any hope for letter writers, letter writers, sending and receiving of parcels and their career mail runners in Nigeria?
This piece by Just a Postman, Son of Man is my story from the "Returned Letter Office. "
God bless Nigeria,
God bless the Nigerian Postal Service,
God bless the genuine Staff, Senior Citizens and Postal Family of our beloved Postal Service in Nigeria.
Taiye Olaniyi,
Retired Postman