Hottestgistnaija.com
Courier and Express Service Operators Association of Nigeria (CESOAN), a
leading association of operators in the small scale logistics and courier
service sector have come out to express their displeasure in the way the
industry is being regulated.
It is not news that there is a recent uproar over the enforcement of the
NIPOST Licence on Courier Operators by officials of the Ministry of
Transportation.
We the members of CESOAN recognize the duty of NIPOST as the
regulators of the Courier and Logistics Industry, however, we do not agree
with the way by which the agency is going about its enforcement.
Our employees are arrested daily on the roads while doing their lawfully
jobs by the Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) and most especially the
touts that claim they work for the Local Government.
For each bike, we have to get at least 40 documents before we can ply the
roads, and there is always one new document introduced every month by
local government authorities. There has been no intervention by NIPOST
or the Ministry of Transportation. Our members have been turned into
“money generating machines” by all law enforcement agencies and
nothing is being done by our “regulators”.
Our operators have embarked on a three day warning strike to express our
displeasures with the indiscriminate arrest and detention of our assets.
Most of our operators are youths, whom the government have failed.
Majority of our operators are graduates who were not able to secure jobs
and decided to be productive by providing logistics solutions to the e-
commerce industry, thereby, creating job opportunities for other
unemployed citizens while at the same time, generating revenue for the
State Government. And instead of being encouraged, the system is trying
to drive our operators out of the business.
It is time we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, we are requesting a round table
discussion with all the stake holders in the industry.
Our demands are as follows;
1. That Nipost Adjusts it’s regulations by establishing a category that
will accommodate small scale courier companies without
restrictions.
2. An outright end to the incessant and frequent harassment by Touts
posing to be local government officials on the roads.
3. An outright end to extortion from Local Government and State
Government officials in the bodies of Area Boys, Council reps,
LASTMA, State Task Force, NPF, Civil Defence, etc. etc.
4. That the Ministry of transportation, Lagos State stops double
taxation.
5. The harmonization of the operating licenses from all local
government in Nigeria.
We sincerely hope that our demands are met with no objections.
