Dr. Mike Umo is the General Manager, Bulk-Post Venture, the bulk mail handling component of the Nigerian Postal Service (Nipost). Before joining in 1987 as a postal controller11, he had a stint with the Bank of India.

Umo, in his 26 years of stewardship at Nipost has worked as district postal manager, Murtala Mohammed International Airpport, Ikeja and FESTAC Lagos, respectively; First product manager, Lagos Mainland; Area Manager in Nipost Territorial Headquarters in Edo, Enugu, Delta and Lagos State.

He was appointed general manager Bulk-Post Venture in October, 2010 to carry out reforms that would entrench seamless processes in the then traumatized system. He spoke to peter ugwu on his transformation efforts 

Place of Bulk-Post in The Postal Sector
The bulk-post is key to restoring courier operations in Nigeria; in that we are more or less number one point of call in the distribution chain.
For instance, we determine the tariffs that guide operators in the industry. It implies that when Courier Operators go out to negotiate business with customers, like the Capital Market Registrars, it is our tariff they use; anything in short of that they will be running at a risk.
Risk in the sense that when they bring the jobs to us, definitely we will not deviate and it is our tariff we are going to use in giving them their share-percentage.
The arrangement is that when Courier Operators get jobs from the Registrars, they will bring the job to us and the standard is that any job that passes through us we give them 40 per cent of the total benefit and we take 60 per cent. So, when they get a job and under value it, the blame will not be shifted to us.
This arrangement is not to say that we do not get jobs directly from the Registrars. What apparently determines the tariff is the weight; we weigh every job that comes in here.
We advise them not to play smart and then shoot themselves in the leg.
For instance, if two companies are pursuing a particular job and one of them tries to outsmart the other by cutting cost, they may end up not having the resources (fund) to bear the delivery costs. So, it is a sure way to ensure uniform tariff and curtail illegality.
 Meanwhile, there are still few of them that cut corners; that is by taking jobs somewhere else, but if they pass through the Venture, such customers are guaranteed of maximum service.
Except for the few jobs they deliver on door-to-door process; that are not bulky, every other job is expected to pass through us.

Why Should They Pass Through the Bulk-Post VENTURE?
The principal reason is that most of them do not have all it takes to process the jobs and deliver them to the last mile. 
We have the facilities and the spread throughout the country. That is the truth, but they will not want to hear that. For instance, you will find out that most courier operators do not have the facilities to move the mails from Lagos to other parts of the country like South-East or the Northern part of the Country.
So, when they collect the jobs we process and pay them their percentage. And I inherited the recent tariff regime, so anybody who would complain of that should know that Nigeria as at today implements the least tariff; the essence is that the industry is still evolving and we want the players to survive with more customers accepting to do business with us in the industry.

Advertisement

Uniform Tariff
Uniform tariff for the industry is the best because it helps to checkmate activities of the Registrars and curb excesses of courier operators and enable a level playing field for everybody. It is also a sure way to check sharp practices.
The activity of handling bulk transaction is that of Bulk Post Venture. In the past, Post Offices had the prerogative to manage all that, because of their spread. But the management of Nipost saw it as becoming a rat race sort of, that culminated into the establishment of the Bulk Post Venture in the year 2000.
So the emergence of Bulk Post has brought sanity and standardization in the courier companies’ interface with the customers. At the time we came in, we saw there was need to centralize. The process of centralization gave birth to the sharing ratio of 30:70.
After that, the Association of Nigerian Courier Operators (ANCO) started pressurizing that we need to review the ratio; in fact, they were even asking for 50:50, we said no, but when the pressure become unbearable, I craved the indulgence of the Post Master General and following series of meetings, we agreed on 40:60. They just direct the job to us; we do the bulk of activities involved.

Assessment of the Mailing Industry In Nigeria
Looking at the industry comparatively, there are various problems that we are facing. We need to tackle them before comparing operations here with what happens elsewhere in the world. In terms of facilities we are not there yet.
What is worrisome is that the mail volume is shrinking by the day. And the causes are not far-fetched.
For instance, a bank that has over one million shareholders it is expected that when the annual general meeting is coming up such bank would print the annual report to the corresponding number of shareholders.
That is not happening presently. Some banks in connivance with some Registrars come out with just half of the reports. Because of that, a lot of courier companies are chasing few jobs in the field. And more courier companies are coming up.
How does that affect the industry and the society at large? When a company is struggling to remain in business, will it employ more people? Apart from that, the industry is in absolute need of a principal regulator, because by standard, Courier operators are not supposed to be treating the kind of mails that Bulk-post handles.
They are supposed to focus on door to door delivery service, pick up service, logistics, etc. However, in the present industry anything goes. I would not say that the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) is not apt in their operations, at the same time a Regulator with Statutory backing will do more.
It will have more logistics at its disposal and spread that reaches out to even the nooks and crannies of the country. Items below 500grams do not fall under the purview of other operators. But we have allowed them to continue so that businesses will thrive.

Innovations Implemented By Bulk-Post
Well, on the part of reform we started by centralizing the Venture. When I came in, we had eight (8) centres, but for proper monitoring and accountability we had to streamline the process. We merged the different locations and brought them down to headquarters annex at Lafiaji.
The procedure was widely lauded; most people were happy about it, but we do not expect that all would embrace it. In any sector where there is a bit of disorganization, definitely some people will benefit from it.
Our target was to attain an internationally acclaimed position in organization of the bulk mailing business.
Through the processes we were able to win-back our integrity; at a time people were going out, struggling to get job and have them delivered without competency.
On the part of the courier, most of them have seen that standardization was not for us alone, but they stand to benefit over time.

Automation of Bulk Post Operating Procedures
There had been attempts to do that, but logistics challenges could not allow us to perfect the system.
Recently, we received note from the head of ICT of Nipost that some people shall be drafted from the department to work with us in the bulk post for the purpose of perfecting our automation process.
ICT is a big plus to what we are doing, because if this place is automated it will help achieve our core values anchored on transparency and accountability.
If the transactions are automated, accountability will be 100% achievable. Automation will enable us to track movement of items in and out the post. Therefore, cases of human error or sharp practices shall be eliminated.

Challenges
Apart from the challenge of scarce resources which is common to companies in different sectors of the economy, we at Bulk Post have a peculiar challenge which is a fall out of the recent development in banks and companies producing compact discs (CDs) to replace printed copies of annual report.
That is our major challenge. A lot of them are shunning production of hardcopies. A copy of printed annual report values at N180:00; when you have 100,000 of them, you know what it translates to, monetarily. It is really affecting our revenue generation.
So, when that report is produced in CDs we get nothing more than N60 and remember most of the jobs come to us through the courier companies, invariably, we have to share whatever profit made after delivery at 40:60 ratio. As it stands now, it will be difficult for us to meet our revenue target.

Advertisement

Revenue Loss
Conservatively, between last year and now that companies digitalize annual reports, we have lost nothing less than N200 million.
The only way to change the trend is for the shareholders or stakeholders in those banks and companies to request that their reports be published in hardcopies. It is true that every company would like to cut costs, but in a situation whereby the reports are published in a CD, will somebody be able to sit down for two to three hours to study that? That is a key burning question. The differences between the two media-soft and hard copies are obvious. If you pick up a book to read when you are tired you mark where you stopped, go wherever you want to and come back to continue, but CD is not like that.
Secondly, you can tender hard copy report as evidence in the law court due to its creditability. Thirdly, how many of the shareholders are computer literate?
Last year only about 12 companies used CDs; and these are companies that generate volumes of reports.
This year more of them will join the trend because everybody is thinking on cutting costs, but does that add value to the shareholders is the question left unanswered.
It is left for the shareholders to complain to the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission as they are the people that are affected more.

Bulk-Post in Postal Regulator Era
The existence of the ‘Commission’ will rather help Bulk-Post fulfil its functions. We are going to complement each other
The Commission is not going to impact negatively on us. While we are awaiting the establishment of the Commission, Nipost will still continue to play double roles which ought not to be.
Then, with the advent of such a Commission, every other venture will restrict its operations to its primary responsibility. And I am sure we will do it better; there will be no divided attention any more.