The National Mail Route Delivery Service (NMRDS) has threatened to drag the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to court over an alleged N200 million debt it owed its members in the last eight months.
In a petition to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, signed by counsel to the operators, Wole Abidakun, the group urged the minister to compel NIPOST, to compel NIPOST to clear the debt within the next seven days or face a legal battle.
Abidakun, in the petition, claimed that tax deductions effected on operators’ accounts for the past five years by NIPOST have not been remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which he noted, had hindered the operators from accessing their tax clearance over the years.
The petition stated that for this reason, the operators cannot bid for other jobs in other organisations leading to extreme hardship on the means of survival of NMRDS members.
The petition, which was also copied to the postmaster general of NIPOST, Dr Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, added that “Ordinarily, our clients would have proceeded to explore other legal options available to them, but to show goodwill, our clients demand a meeting with you within seven days of your receipt of this letter to sort out issues amicably and maintain the cordial relationship that exists between your organisation and our clients.
“Where you fail, refuse, and/or neglect to meet with our clients, within the time herein stated, then we have our clients’ further instructions to explore legal remedies available to them.”
The spokesperson for the operators, Senator Usman Liman, said that “it was inappropriate for NIPOST to engage Speedaf Logistics, which is a Chinese company, in mail delivery services, at the expense of indigenous companies, even after it had failed to pay the operators in the last eight months.”
