Towards strengthening the capacity of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and other relevant agencies in the fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Nigerian Postal Services has said it’s making available its facilities across the country.
NIPOST said with the presence of a post office in about 1,400 locations across Nigeria, the courier and logistics company stands at a very vantage position to handle distribution of materials towards fighting the pandemic. These are in addition to its mobility infrastructure across the country.
A statement released on Tuesday by the General Manager, Corporate Services, Mr. Franklin Alao, quoted the Postmaster General and the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, as giving the directive on what should be NIPOST’s modest contribution in fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The statement noted, “NIPOST is offering to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid, medications, testing kits and medical equipment to areas where they are needed. We have the infrastructure to further assist Nigerians in observing the social distancing, one of the protocols prescribed by the health authorities.
“Also our offices are usually strategically located thereby making the locations more satiable for storage and distribution of relief materials to the public/communities.
“The postal service remains the universally accepted channel of extending economic, social, financial, and digital opportunities to the broadest number of the population.”
It went further to assure the Presidential Task Force and other relevant agencies involved in the battle against the spread of the disease that NIPOST would support the Government’s stay–at–home directives by avoiding non-essential journeys.
It added, “NIPOST assures the public that we are going to make changes in our delivery processes like adopting longer retention period for parcels, to give customers longer time to collect or have their items re-delivered.”
