Dr. Simon Emeje, senior assistant, Postmaster-General of NIPOST and head of Courier Regulatory Department (CRD), is a strategic thinker, leadership specialist, entrepreneur and development strategist.
He is recognized internationally for his expertise in issues relating to Political Science and Public Policy as well as Courier and Logistics.
Emeje is widely travelled and in high demand in leadership, business, courier and logistics seminar and conferences and received several awards for his excellence and dedication to work.
In this interview with peter ugwu he spoke about the courier industry and sundry issues.

Trends in Courier Sector
It has been very interesting, The industry is very dynamic and faces changes in some aspects of courier operations.
Courier Regulatory Department has been apt in carrying out Nigeria Postal Service (NPS’) quests to expose industry operators to various areas they have not really tapped into. That is, the online-courier business. It is an area that is so large, but they have neglected it. That is why in our last workshop we deemed it wise to create awareness among them, which they accepted with two hands. It was like an eye open.
We have been telling who wants to know that courier is beyond picking up items from the capital market to deliver; most of them have concentrated on the bulk, capital market, quoted companies, annual general meeting reports or share holding documents; we have seen that is it quite more than that.

Link between e-Commerce and Logistics
It is a two-way thing for the industry operators. In other words, if they have the capacity to venture into that, they can go directly into it.
The license they obtained from us covers that too. They can open up platforms where people can go shopping and they in-turn deliver the items to them.
Actually, e-Commerce does not stop at ordering. If they want to partner with those who have the platform already they can do that; contemporary businesses thrive mainly on partnership. Therefore, they (courier operators) can take the aspect of delivery.
I call it a hybrid operation, wherein you are standing between technology and physical delivery; customers go online to place order, which are packed at a warehouse,
it is then the responsibility of another person to move the items from, either a warehouse or mall, to the recipient.

Regulation of Delivery In e-Commerce Sub-Sector
That is why we are here. Courier regulation covers the aspect of e-Commerce delivery. But our laws are so limited in that aspect.
We are optimistic that the Federal Government will expedite action on the current National Postal Commission Bill.
Be that as it may, in the technology era, courier remains a time sensitive service of delivering items from door to door in a secured nature.
Thus, the technological gamut can affect what happens in the net because, globally, there is an aspect of the post which has to do with technology in moving items from one destination to another. For instance, billing systems where payments are made online on items that are delivered, even as items are delivered online using particular software.
So, the industry is no longer dependent on just physical delivery. When people start communicating online, making purchases, somebody has to deliver it; the point where the operator picks the item is not usually the beginning, rather someone seated in the comfort of his room or office make the decision to move an item.
That decision is part of the delivery process. Remember, after the decision, the client would have gone ahead to make purchases, they are packaged before the delivery.
At the point courier company XYZ comes in to deliver, to a layman, that is the first point, but it is not.
In the same way, when people make orders online, in the e-commerce contest, from any part of the world, the decision to do that is the beginning.
The second step is where to find the item; they go ahead to surf the platforms, make purchases, then, how do they receive the item. The courier company comes. In other words, the whole process is the essence of courier.

How Domestic Courier Operators can Benefit
We licence courier companies for both domestic and international operations. We have three categories of licencing.
First, the purely domestic is for those that want to play within Nigeria. The other licence is basically for international players, where you have multinationals like DHL, UPS, FEDEX, etc.
The international licence also covers the operator to cover domestic market. We also have indigenous-international, which is allows indigenous companies to embark on international operations. They do not have the capacities like the multinationals.
So, if give a business to the domestic operator for delivery in Ghana, the only to carry to execute that is to synergise with the operator that has international licence. The business of the indigenous stops at the table of the international licencee, otherwise, he has to obtain permit for international transaction.

CRD’s Preparedness in the e-Commerce Era
Yes, we have thought of situations where companies will engage in illegal international transaction because of the gains obtainable in e-commcer viz-a-viz international purchases. We frown at that kind of illegality. What we are doing currently is engage on surveillance.
We are at the airports, checking the manifests of consignments, both imports and exports. If we see any manifest in either NAHCO or SAHCOL sheds and discover that Company XYZ is not licenced for international courier business, we sanction such company.
However, in the last six months we have not experienced that; it was around January that we had about three cases. The truth remains that: documents will not lie.

e-Commerce-Delivery Handshake
Actually, that was one of the essences of our last training. That effort was to bring the two together. E-commerce business is roped into courier.
The ones we have licneced such as Jumia, Konga, etc., are really doing good. In the last six months, we have been rethinking on brining everybody together; let them see themselves as one, running the same business but in different dimensions.
We made the e-commerce operators to speak up, telling the rest of the operators how they are operating. From there, some of them started networking, exchanging ideas with those purely on e-commerce.

National Postal Commission Bill: The Journey So, Far
We are praying to God that government will understand and respond swiftly to the industry’s pleas. We have been talking about it in the last nine years.
So many things would have been made easier if a Commission were to be in place. It is a heart-cry from the industry.
So time ago, the draft Bill was presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) through the efforts of the Dr. Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology and her team.
A committee was set up to fine-tune it; they were supposed to the FEC before it could be sent to the National Assembly as an executive Bill; we are waiting for that to happen.
Before the expiration of the sixth Assembly, a Bill of this nature was sent to the House of Representatives. It went as far as public hearing. It was going towards the third reading before the Assembly dismissed. We were so optimistic then, that in a jiffy it will be passed.
If it were read the third time, probably, by now government would have instituted the Commission.
Presently, the FG in its wisdom has come up with this process; although, the seventh Assembly is already winding up.
To us in the industry, it has not been palatable. Postal Industry regulation is a global phenomenon. All over the world, the separation of postal from telecoms is a known thing.
Nigeria is a giant in Africa and the biggest economy in Africa too, but without a separate regulator for the postal sector which is critical in economic development of the nation.
During international conferences, you will be amazed that even small countries in Africa have postal commission. The postmaster general has been talking about it, even at international conferences he has defended the calls for an independent regulator for this all important industry.

Any Intervention from Universal Postal Union
Really, there UPU will not go to the point of sanctioning Nigeria if an independent regulator is not constituted. UPU has allowed discretional regulation, implying that every government is free to run its industry the way it deems fit.
However, UPU had advocated for every country to do that because it makes service efficient and effective, giving better opportunity for the government to have full control and the operators to enjoy the industry and recoup their investments.
It is a good thing that we heed to the recommendations of UPU. There was a time they came up with a policy on the courier which gave birth to Express Mail Service (EMS) around 1986. UPU said the essence was to stem the incursion of private firms into the jurisdiction of the conventional postal service. So, it was an avenue for the national carrier can run a courier service. Almost all UPU member nations have EMS.