LETTER WRITING, ITS DEARTH, AND RESURRECTION: DOSAGES BY CHIEF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO et al
As a national infrastructure, the Post in Nigeria has been facing at different times, tides, fortunes, and misfortunes according to the political dictates of different administrations.
By Taiye Olaniyi
The geopolitical situation in Nigeria, the recent elections, and the acclaimed results have generated a lot of hues and public cries to such an extent that flare and penchant for letter writing in past years, especially in Nigeria, their dearth and seemingly death got resurrected again in public debates.
For centuries past, letter writing has been a vogue among peoples in places from the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, the British, and numerous other nations of the world at both the public and private interfaces. Letter writing emanated from the desires of monarchs to link and interlink with fellow hierarchies just as the monasteries used to appreciate the functionalities of letters and postal service as the veritable harbingers of public education.
The advent of the postage stamp by Sir Rowland Hill in 1840 in Britain similarly brought what the philatelists referred to postage stamps as "The World is Just a Stamp Away".
The combination of letter writing and numerous functional roles of postage stamps both aligned to make geopolitical simulations to stimulate sociocultural, economic, and world trade the purview of the postal industry. The advent of postal service in its rudimentary stage as far back as 1852 in Lagos, its spread in later years in geometric content and context, brought about the functional role of the Post to the realms of private and public education, sociology, administration, economics, politics, and international relations and relationships at their best. Love letters, private letters of confidential nature, and public-oriented ones like letters to the editors were also of immense status. The public appreciation and/ or condemnation of postal service both past and present do arise from the quality of service delivery and customer relations including helping to boost the image of the country amongst 192 member nations of the Universal Postal Union, the umbrella body of the Post worldwide. As a national infrastructure, the Post in Nigeria has been facing different times, tides, fortunes, and misfortunes according to the political dictates of different administrations and political considerations.
To a great extent, the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo then the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria showed great interest in the Nigerian Post by giving a freehand to the duo of Chief Cornelius Adebayo and late Alhaji Abubakar Musa Argungu both the Honorable Minister of Communication and Postmaster General of the Federation respectively. Besides making the best use of Alhaji Abubakar Musa Argungu as a principal guest speaker in his public service orientation programs, he also helped to commission the NIPOST Corporate Headquarters' named after the beloved late Musa Argungu. Former President Obasanjo was not much of a prolific letterwriter then until later now as a fellow retiree and " Senior Citizen" like many of us who to kill the boredom associated with an average retiree, finding an avenue to be retired but not tired, Chief Obasanjo now engages in a spree of letterwriting which was supposed to be private but made public for whatever reasons best known to him.
Assuming such letters passed through the Post and thus made public by any means, the Post would have been accused of violating the rights to privacy of the customer. It could also mean that Baba no longer has confidence in the speedy and safe delivery of such letters after the demise of Argungu in whom he reposed confidence that delivery of the last mile of letter within Nigeria could be reduced from the previous 72hour to 48hr no matter the distance in the country. To one's dismay, no administration especially at the ministerial level showed visible interest in the progress report of the Nigerian Postal Service which since 2016 has been having the unfortunate fate of having politicians as the Postmaster General.
During Ali Pantami's era as the Minister of Communication Technology and Digital Economy, the Post in Nigeria can now record 3rd digits of the Postmaster General from 2016 till date as well as 3 different Boards for just an organization with both local, domestic, and international economies but which core service and fortune daily go down the drain due to politics in vogue against the International best practice thus deadening the apt and right ambition of any of the postal staff reaching the peak of their careers.
Such an ambition by any staff that has risen through the ranks and files today is rarer than a hen's teeth. Hence, if Chief Obasanjo and people of like minds had attempted to send their mail through the Post, none in today's employ of the Nigerian Post would be able to guarantee the safe and speedy delivery of such mail to domestic and/or international outlets.
Don't ask me if Obasanjo had the right or even Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had the right to address their letters to their addressees through the public domain against the private characterization of such. Simply, in context and content of such their letters, consciences, "The Eye of God in the heart of man", matters most to either vindicate, convict, or condemn not only internally but also the implications of the contents and context of such letters not passing through the domain of the Post.
Much more comfortable if such letters are fair, the truth, the way and life to public good and national unity.
I remember as if it were yesterday and during our time in the Nigerian Postal Service, the Post used to send letters to schools for their students to participate in the annual International Letter Writing Competition which is organized yearly by the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union, UPU, Berne Switzerland.
Realizing that the entries from Nigeria were not usually impressive, we had to get in touch with Professor Wole Soyinka to help encourage the Nigerian students on this important aspect of the attempt at helping to advance the frontier of the educational milieu of the participating children from 9-15 years. He kindly agreed to that in his letter dated 27th May 2013 to mark the Children's Day of that year which was marked with the pomp and pageantry of that year.
Now that the private letters of elder statesmen are getting public, days that internationally recognized youth writer(s) may be getting thrilled sending private letters into the public domain, I then became thrilled by what Professor Bammeke, Olufunlayo Olaotan refers to as: " The Public in the Private:Personal Troubles and Public Issues." In her inaugural lecture of 5th April 2023, at the J. F Ade Ajayi Auditorium at the University of Lagos, I have inclined an excerpt as the letter writing, writers, and issues of public interest go "paripasu" by citing one of her submissions that:
" Public issues are matters that go beyond the immediate social environment of individuals but can be located in the social structure and culture of the society. An issue is a public matter if some value cherished by the public is felt to be threatened." Further to that she submits, "An issue often involved a crisis in institutional arrangement and often too it involves what Marxists call 'contradictions' or 'antagonisms'.
Who then should we encourage to be writing letters both private and in the public domain and for what purposes? Statesmanship is the purview of the wise, so, in all our thoughts, words, and actions we all need to seek wisdom from the Divine. For the Youths, engage in noble topical issues that are always featured in International Letter Writing Competition which this year is encapsulated herein.
"Imagine you are a superhero and your mission is to make all roads around the world safer for children. Write a letter to someone explaining which superpowers you would need to achieve your mission."
God bless Nigeria.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired Postman of the Nigeria Postal Service, is based in Lagos