NIPOST Clamps Down On 8 Illegal Courier Operators In Lagos

The Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department (CLRD) of the
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), last week, clamped down on eight
courier operators in Lagos who were operating illegally without a
courier operating licence.

The enforcement team, comprising of the police and staff of
CLRD, led by its Assistant General Manager in charge of Ethics,
Complaints and Strategy, Mr. Banks Worimegbe, carried out an
undercover investigation on illegal courier operations in Lagos for
several weeks, before the clampdown.

Items such as dispatch motor-bikes, log books, invoice/receipt
booklets were confiscated from each of the eight courier operators
and a management staff arrested.

The eight courier operators were Chinmark Logistics, Crestline
Logistics, Zibia Speed Logistics, Eko Expedite, Gadget Freak,
Massive Solanc Limited, Nestore Technologies as well as the eight
courier operator, whose name was withheld for further
investigation.

Addressing the media shortly after the exercise, the General
Manager at CLRD, Mr. Gideon Dotun Shonde, said the eight courier
operators were clamped down for operating without a courier
operating licence, which he said, constitutes illegality.

According to him, there were several implications of operating
without a licence, such as the tendency to shortchange innocent
customers, by receiving payments and parcels from customers for
deliveries, without actually delivering the items, because they
have no registered addresses through which they could be traced and
tracked, as well as defrauding the federal government of their
licensing fees, among others.

He advised the general public to desist from patronising
unlicensed courier operators for the safety of their
deliverables.

He said CLRD had licensed over 260 courier operators, and
advised Nigerians to identify them in order to transact genuine
courier business with them.

Although some of those affected were full of surprise and
claimed ignorance of the existing federal law that mandates courier
operators to obtain licence before operation, Shonde said the CLRD
had over the years, sensitised the courier industry on the need to
obtain an operational licence, but that some of the operators
deliberately refused to begin the process of obtaining licence,
because they had the intension to cut corners and defraud the
federal federal government and innocent customers.

“Sensitisation has been on going and in January this year, we
kicked off another round of enlightenment campaign to inform
courier industry players on the need to obtain licence and to renew
such licence after expiration.

“I have been on national radio and television to discuss the
implications of operating courier business without licence and we
will not relent in our efforts of sensitising the courier industry
until it is free from all manners of sharp practices and
irregularities,” Shonde said.

The Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department (CLRD) of the
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), last week, clamped down on eight
courier operators in Lagos who were operating illegally without a
courier operating licence.

The enforcement team, comprising of the police and staff of
CLRD, led by its Assistant General Manager in charge of Ethics,
Complaints and Strategy, Mr. Banks Worimegbe, carried out an
undercover investigation on illegal courier operations in Lagos for
several weeks, before the clampdown.

Items such as dispatch motor-bikes, log books, invoice/receipt
booklets were confiscated from each of the eight courier operators
and a management staff arrested.

The eight courier operators were Chinmark Logistics, Crestline
Logistics, Zibia Speed Logistics, Eko Expedite, Gadget Freak,
Massive Solanc Limited, Nestore Technologies as well as the eight
courier operator, whose name was withheld for further
investigation.

Addressing the media shortly after the exercise, the General
Manager at CLRD, Mr. Gideon Dotun Shonde, said the eight courier
operators were clamped down for operating without a courier
operating licence, which he said, constitutes illegality.

According to him, there were several implications of operating
without a licence, such as the tendency to shortchange innocent
customers, by receiving payments and parcels from customers for
deliveries, without actually delivering the items, because they
have no registered addresses through which they could be traced and
tracked, as well as defrauding the federal government of their
licensing fees, among others.

He advised the general public to desist from patronising
unlicensed courier operators for the safety of their
deliverables.

He said CLRD had licensed over 260 courier operators, and
advised Nigerians to identify them in order to transact genuine
courier business with them.

Although some of those affected were full of surprise and
claimed ignorance of the existing federal law that mandates courier
operators to obtain licence before operation, Shonde said the CLRD
had over the years, sensitised the courier industry on the need to
obtain an operational licence, but that some of the operators
deliberately refused to begin the process of obtaining licence,
because they had the intension to cut corners and defraud the
federal federal government and innocent customers.

“Sensitisation has been on going and in January this year, we
kicked off another round of enlightenment campaign to inform
courier industry players on the need to obtain licence and to renew
such licence after expiration.

“I have been on national radio and television to discuss the
implications of operating courier business without licence and we
will not relent in our efforts of sensitising the courier industry
until it is free from all manners of sharp practices and
irregularities,” Shonde said.