The Nigerian Postal Service will explore opportunities created by the evolving electronic commerce architecture to increase its revenue profile, the Postmaster General of the Federation, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi, has said.

Adegbuyi said this during the celebration of NIPOST Day at the ongoing International Trade Fair in Abuja.

The NIPOST boss said the numerous e-commerce sites in the country and the increasing online transactions among the citizenry had created tremendous opportunities and a new stream of income for postal services.

He added that the postal organisation under his leadership would explore Information Technology to improve its service delivery across the country.

According to him, it is now possible to use IT to track the movement of letters and parcels from the point of postage to the point of delivery.

Adegbuyi said, “Many people had expressed fears that with the advent of Information and Communications Technology, the post would fizzle out.

“Our simple answer, however, is that the emergence of digital technology has not in any way diminished the role and importance of the postal services. On the contrary, ICT is positively complementing postal services as we can use ICT to fast track our mail and cause postal services to be at every doorstep with minimal delays.

“Even in the Western world where the Internet and other telecommunications services may be considered to be at its peak, the letter post is still a vital means of communication both in the rural, urban and business communities.”

He added, “My appointment is predicated on turning around the fortunes of NIPOST and making it a business conglomerate.

“With the change agenda of the present administration, my appointment calls on all and sundry to put on their thinking cap and make this sleeping giant a money spinner for the nation to the extent that the nation would find a replacement for the monolithic economy.”

Adegbuyi said he would also bring his knowledge of property law and estate development to bear in harnessing several NIPOST landed estates scattered in different parts of the country.

Another area, which he said NIPOST would explore under his leadership, was providing banking services to rural and suburban communities that are unbanked.

The NIPOST boss said that while physical banking was diminishing in some climes because of the evolution of e-banking activities, opportunities exist for NIPOST to serve as agents to banks in rural communities where it had long ago established its presence.