Joe Nwosu, managing director/ chief executive officer of Global Express Limited, has stressed the need for consolidation in the postal industry.

Nwosu emphasized that for courier companies to come out big and render efficient service as well as add value to what they are doing that what happened in the banking industry should also happen to the courier industry. Consolidation is inevitable, he said. He decried the present practice whereby new courier companies are springing up now and then while some of them do their businesses in a room office.

Nwosu said that such courier companies don’t add value to their services and called on the Courier Regulatory Department, a body that licenses and registers new courier companies to review the registration fee upward from the present N1million so as to encourage people to come together to form courier companies .

He believes that if the registration fee is made substantial that it will prevent every Dick, Thom and Harry from wanting to register a courier firm simply because they can afford the one million naira registration fee. "A hike in the registration fee will make people to form courier companies. Con solidation will add content value to what they are doing’, he said.

Nwosu assured that Global Express, a courier company that specializes in mail and parcels services, is prepared to give the specialized service the client requires and said that as a courier company you don’t just come into the market because you want to make money. He advised that to be in the courier business that you have to segment the market and know the people you want to service and said that once you are able to offer specialized service that you have gotten the market. Further, Nwosu said that in addition to this that his courier firm goes a step further to ask its clients their areas of need.

Continuing, Nwosu frowns at the activities of unregistered courier companies who go ahead cutting corners, cutting prizes and dumping mails saying that their activities undermine the growth of the sector even as he called on government to assist the industry in the areas of road, light and provision of basic infrastructure for practioners to be able to make profit and pay their staff salaries. Nwosu submitted that running generators for 24hours increases the overhead cost and said that courier is not a business where you keep on increasing the prize. No economy moves without proper communication and courier is the main stay of every economy because you have to move services, move your hard copies, Nwosu said.

Describing the courier as a living business, he said the dynamic nature of the industry which comes up with new innovations every day elicits that companies have to train their workers to keep abreast of the new innovations. According to him, Global Express trains its workers at least three times in a year and said it is the only way of embracing new technologies. He explained that IT works hand- in- hand with the courier. For instance, tracking he said, was not there when Global Express was established in 1992 but now you cannot do without the technology. However he said that the level of ICT tools they use here in the postal industry cannot be compared with those used abroad. Sorting of mails for example, he said,. is not done manually overseas.

In this regard, he called on government to encourage entrepreneurs and said that you cannot talk about entrepreneurship without being involved with your environment. With necessary technology in place, Nwosu believes the incidence of drug barons sending their parcels through courier companies will be checked and minimized. He said drug barons come up with various means and to fight the scourge it needs the cooperation of every body considering the endemic nature of drugs which he said is capable of eliminating a whole country like Nigeria if everyone gets into using it. He lamented the dearth of technology devices to scrutinize contents of consignments. In that case, he said anything can happen.

Nwosu advocated for professionalism of the courier sector in line with other sectors like the banking where practitioners operate under the umbrella known as the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) and their counterparts, Nigeria Insurance Council of Nigeria (Nicon) for the insurance.

Nwosu also suggested professionalism for the sector and said that for one to be a courier practitioner that one has to be trained and certified before becoming a member. The present practice whereby operators pay one million naira to get a license and in addition acquire a bike to start the business is decried by Nwosu .He said it is necessary to ensure that operations render standard service and customers getting satisfied. He advocated for a forum where customers could have the opportunity to come and voice out and commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for wonderfully doing well in the telecoms sector.