NIPOST Adopts 3 Words Addressing System

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NIPOST

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Mr Bisi Adegbuyi, the Postmaster-General Federation on Wednesday said the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) would adopt the three words addressing system in its services to improve postal delivery services in the country.

Adegbuyi made this known in a statement issued by Mr Victor Oluwadamilare, the Special Assistant Media to the Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu in Abuja.

According to him, this is in preparation for the take-off of Nigerian e-commerce system.

He said that NIPOST would use the three words addressing system known globally as “what3words’’ to increase the number of homes in its services for effective mail delivery system.

“Whats3word’’ is an innovative global addressing system which talks about location with a world divided into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and each one be assigned a unique three word address.

It means anyone can accurately find any location and share it more quickly, easily and with less ambiguity.

The service can be used via free mobile app or online map and can be built into any other app, platform or website with just a few lines of code.

Adegbuyi said that the system was already being used for mail deliveries in Côte d’Ivoire, Mongolia, Saint Maarten, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

“It means that every home and business in Nigeria has a simple and accurate address that is easy to remember and to use.

“Nigeria’s poor addressing system means that only 20 per cent of its inhabitants receive mail at home.

“About 79 per cent of homes and businesses cannot receive deliveries to the door, and the remaining one per cent receives their mail using one of the 478,000 post office boxes throughout the country,’’ he said.

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He said that postcode system exists but only five per cent of mails were properly addressed with the postcode hampering the efforts of NIPOST to improve its quality of service.

“Determined to improve this situation, NIPOST has set for itself the ambitious target of increasing home delivery to 70 per cent within the next two years and 90 per cent by 2020 through the Mail for Every House Initiative (MEHI),’’ he said.

Adegbuyi said that NIPOST had adopted what3words to help it achieve these goals, adding that “it is being made available in 14 languages with more being developed’’.

“What3words is used in over 170 countries by governments, postal services, logistics companies, emergency services and NGOs, as well as individuals.

“It is more accurate than traditional street addresses, simpler than landmark-based directions, and easier to remember and communicate than GPS coordinates.

“The system has built-in error detection and is available through a free mobile app and API integration. The system even works offline without a data connection.’’

He said that better addressing was key to it NIPOST’s agenda aimed to transform, innovate and deliver more services to more people all over the country.

“With improvements in infrastructure, innovation around payment systems and a reliable addressing system, Nigerian e-commerce will be set to take off at an incredible scale.’’

Mr Chris Sheldrick, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of what3words said with a rapidly growing e-commerce ecosystem, “Nigeria is a very exciting country to work with’’.

“Postal services have a critical role in building a strong economy and NIPOST is firmly focused on the future, and is taking steps to modernise and grow in capacity and range of services,” Sheldrick said.

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