It is shameful enough living with the fact that the “giant of Africa” the largest black nation in the world does not have a postal code, a system of letters and numbers used to aid sorting of mail traffic is one of the highest in the world. As such, it is unacceptable for the Nigeria Postal Service to continue to hang over our heads, this shame as we move into the new millennium – a period of a thousand years widely believed to be a period of technological advancement and economic growth.
To corroborate my suspicion, I went to the Nigeria Postal Service to find out, and to my astonishment it was confirmed that there was no postcode, in fact, so many of the staffers of the Nigerian Postal Service know little or nothing about postal codes. Whenever government fails to meet up its obligations, it is we the ordinary citizens at the lower rung of the ladder who always pay the price.
Only a couple of days ago, Obi Ojimiwe, a political Science graduate of University of Lagos, walked into a business center to use their Internet services. He opened the yahoo.com web site and clicked at the “free web page” icon, a graphical link to the yahoo geocites’ free web page site. A form was displayed on the computer screen, which he quickly filled out, but stopped short at the entry market “Postal code”. On second thought, he typed N/P (not available) and pressed “Enter,” the button that allows the computer to accept the entries in the form. But that was not to be last moment later, the computer displayed an error message reading, error message reading, error in postal code, but not wanting to give up easily, Obi, tried other options such as “nil”. Asterisks,’ “dash” and the rest. The error message kept reappearing as if the computer was insistent. Obi never got the free web page because he could not supply the postcode, and the fruitless effort cost him one thousand five hundred Naira (1,500.00).
We all may have had our own harrowing experience, but what it all points to is the fact that in this age of unlimited free-flow of information, Nigeria, once again may occup the back stage in the new millennium. This indeed is unacceptable.
I urged the Nigerian Postal Service to tackle this matter with the urgency it deserves, and provide postal code for each State of long neglected people of Nigeria the embarrassment of past bad leadership as the new millennium approaches.
Post Express, 13 Jan 2000
By March Oyinki
Page 33
To corroborate my suspicion, I went to the Nigeria Postal Service to find out, and to my astonishment it was confirmed that there was no postcode, in fact, so many of the staffers of the Nigerian Postal Service know little or nothing about postal codes. Whenever government fails to meet up its obligations, it is we the ordinary citizens at the lower rung of the ladder who always pay the price.
Only a couple of days ago, Obi Ojimiwe, a political Science graduate of University of Lagos, walked into a business center to use their Internet services. He opened the yahoo.com web site and clicked at the “free web page” icon, a graphical link to the yahoo geocites’ free web page site. A form was displayed on the computer screen, which he quickly filled out, but stopped short at the entry market “Postal code”. On second thought, he typed N/P (not available) and pressed “Enter,” the button that allows the computer to accept the entries in the form. But that was not to be last moment later, the computer displayed an error message reading, error message reading, error in postal code, but not wanting to give up easily, Obi, tried other options such as “nil”. Asterisks,’ “dash” and the rest. The error message kept reappearing as if the computer was insistent. Obi never got the free web page because he could not supply the postcode, and the fruitless effort cost him one thousand five hundred Naira (1,500.00).
We all may have had our own harrowing experience, but what it all points to is the fact that in this age of unlimited free-flow of information, Nigeria, once again may occup the back stage in the new millennium. This indeed is unacceptable.
I urged the Nigerian Postal Service to tackle this matter with the urgency it deserves, and provide postal code for each State of long neglected people of Nigeria the embarrassment of past bad leadership as the new millennium approaches.
Post Express, 13 Jan 2000
By March Oyinki
Page 33
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