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The
Postcode Enigma
Post Express -
January 13, 2000
Page 33
By March Oyinki
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.
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