Gbenro Adesina
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria have cried out to the Federal Government to look into the new fees regime for courier and logistics services recently released by the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), which put the licence fee for international operation at N20,000.000.
On Wednesday, NIPOST stated that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, has approved its new guidelines for Courier and Logistics Operations in line with Section 62 of NIPOST Act.
In a press statement signed by its Spokesperson, Franklin Alao, the agency explained that the new guideline will replace the former Regulations which has been in existence since 2001. NIPOST said that the Minister stated in a letter of approval that the new Regulations will no doubt enhance the regulatory powers of NIPOST in this subsector of the economy.
The statement read in part: “The new Regulations that is a great improvement on the old one, is aimed to rejig the logistic and courier ecosystem of the economy and significantly improve efficiency make courier and logistic operation more effective, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration policy on ease of doing business
“Erstwhile regulations largely focused on the big players in the Courier industry with no clear cut role and guidelines for the SMEs, particularly the upstarts thereby creating laxity that caused proliferation of the industry. This was put into perspective as the new regulations that created six category of licensing ranging from International operators, Regional State, Municipal or Intra-city, and giving consideration for special Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) Licence.”
NIPOST explained in the Regulations that the categorization is to enable the licensees to operate at their levels per time and scope, stating that the new regulations will assist SMEs to grow and create youth empowerment that will translate into employment opportunities for Nigerians.
“The new guideline has made it possible for every operator irrespective of their category to be identified with specific address and location that is traceable to before and after engaging their service. This will eliminate the risk posed by dubious operators who may take advantage of poor control to operate illegally.
“The categorization creates room for migration as a licensee has rights to migrate from a particular licence category to another, but must do so in compliance with Section3(4) of these regulations as pertain to the desired licence category before expiry date of the subsisting licence.
“To maintain diligence, trustworthiness, the Regulations maintain among others things that an operator will be required to display in their offices list of prohibited and restricted courier and logistic items, to guide their customers,” NIPOST stated.
However, the requirements for obtaining the licence for the six category of licensing was released today , with the licencing fees running into millions of Naira.
For International operators, the fee for new licence is N20,000,000, while renewal is N8,000,000; National is N10,000,000, while renewal is N4,000.000.
For Regional operators, new licence will cost N5,000.000, while renewal is N2,000,000; State is N2,000,000, while renewal is N800,000.
For Municipal operators, new licence will cost N1,000,000, while renewal is N400,000; Special SME is N250,000, while renewal is N100,000.
Reacting to this development, some logistics operators believe that the fees are to exorbitant and may put them out of business. An operator said that while the government is out to generate revenue, there should be consideration for struggling Nigerians who are trying to stay afloat in the logistic business.
Another operator said on Twitter, “So sad that the government cannot create job opportunities and empowerment for the youths, now the youths are creating job opportunities and contributing to the growth of the economy. Nipost wants to kill SMEs with this”. Another said, “This is unacceptable. Whatever happened to ease of doing business?”.
They call on the Federal Government to help to review these fees downwards.
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