From Monopolism to Competitionism: A Market Analysis of The Performance Of The Nigerian Postal Service, 1985-2011

Abstract

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is an outstanding public organization that has enjoyed an overwhelming and voluminous customer patronage in the recent past. Key to this reality is the envious monopolistic hegemony enjoyed by the agency in the ‘dark ages’, when people willingly and helplessly cluster or pin themselves down in an endless cue, just to assess NIPOST services. However, the opening up of the postal industry in the ‘digital age’ rather dispersed this awkward trend. Particularly, well over 256 courier services are now in competition. Therefore, this paper seeks to link between the institutional limitations or poor adaptation of NIPOST to the prevailing market benchmark of qualitative service schemes (such as service automation/digitalization), and the dwindling public patronage uprooting the organization. Accordingly, qualitative methods of data collection and analysis are applied. We conclude that the failure of the NIPOST management to comprehensively automate and strategize its operations in tune with the prevailing postal market indications is fundamental to the poor performance of the organization. As a result, NIPOST faces a diminishing and waning customer patronage. However, genuine efforts towards service upgrading and diversification of operations are relevant in setting the organization in the right pedestal.

Keywords: Public Enterprises, Inefficiency, NIPOST, Customer Patronage, Service Delivery, Mail Performance, Automation, E-communication etc.