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| Younouss Djibrine |
The African postal sector needs a helping hand, according to Younouss Djibrine, secretary general of the Pan African Postal Union (Papu).
Speaking to Gulf Times at the 25th World Postal Congress yesterday, he called upon the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and world organisations to focus more attention quickly on Africa’s postal sector.
“People rely heavily on the postal sector for their basic needs in Africa,” said Djibrine, a Cameroonian who was elevated to the top position at Africa’s apex postal body, based in Arusha, Tanzania, only two months ago.
While the UPU stipulates that there should be a post office for every 10,000 residents, in Africa the ratio is something like 1:100,000 and some places it is even worse, he said.
“The UPU is working hard to improve the postal system in Africa but much more needs to be done bring it on par with the rest of the world,” said Djibrine. He added that several African states still do not consider postal service a priority.
“This is despite the fact that post offices play many other roles to meet basic needs,” he said.
Postal penetration continues to be poor in remote areas, said Djibrine. “We are trying to provide postal services in interior areas where banks are not present. However, it is far from sufficient,” he said.
The UPU has affirmed its commitment to bridging the digital divide. “However, despite its efforts, people in many African cities have no access to postal services,” he said.
While developed countries are making ambitious plans to diversify postal services further, Africa is advocating strengthening of existing infrastructure.
Electronic mail and money transfer facilities are very limited compared to the rest of the world, he said.
“The scenario is a little different in North Africa because of their proximity to Europe,” said Djibrine, who added that even in South Africa, the postal sector has many shortcomings owing to its poor representation across the country. “While there are many areas where facilities match world standards, there are many places where no services are available.”
He said that Africa’s poor ICT infrastructure had hit remittances from diaspora. Most remittances especially to remote areas are routed through post offices but poor communication infrastructure causes considerable delay.