PMG VISITS POSTAL INSTITUTE, ASSURES OF INFRASTRUCTURAL REBIRTH
Oru Leonard
Flickers of hope have been ignited for the Nigerian Postal Institute, Egor in Egor Local Government Area, Benin City, Edo State as the Post Master General (PMG), Dr Ismail Adebayo Adewusi on Wednesday visited the institute on a facility tour to ascertain the level of infrastructural decay and neglect on campus of the institute and gave assurance that its infrastructure will be given a rebirth in order to reinvent the fortune of the institute.
Nigerian Postal Institute is a training facility for all the staff of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), across Nigeria as well as postal workers in West Africa.
The institute, which has a land mass of one kilometer square, was established in 1990 for staff training and capacity building both professionally and intellectually, a core mandate that the institute has been carrying out over the years despite its challenge of infrastructural decay.
On arrival at the institute at about 11:50am, where the staff turned out en mass to welcome him, the PMG immediately embarked on a tour of all the facilities which lasted for over one 15 minutes, in order for him to have an on-the-spot assessment and ascertain the various of neglect of the different amenities on campus.
Dr Adewusi, who was painstakingly and competently guided by the Director of the Nigerian Postal Institute, Dr Julius Bolade Anjorin.
Places visited are the blocks of lecture halls, uncompleted proposed conference hall, canteen, which is currently being used as the conference hall, blocks of hostel ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and the other uncompleted hostels, senior staff quarters with the separated three-bedroom guest’s house and the other guest house gutted by fire in 2018 that is attached to the senior staff quarters,
Also inspected is the electric power generating set as well as the house for the electric generating set.
While guiding the PMG through the tour, the Director of the institute, Dr Anjorin was also explaining to his guest and boss the capacity of the hostels including those that have not been completed, as well as the different stages of decay and completion of the various facilities in the institute.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the tour, the PMG said, “This is a visit to Edo State particularly to the governor and our postal institute which is located in Egor. This is the place that we are now. The whole essence is to familiarize myself with what is operating here. It is my time in Edo State and I have taken tis opportunity to see things for myself, the state of our infrastructure generally so that I will be in a position to see what next to do in our agenda for the transformation of NIPOST. That is whole the essence of the visit.”
According to him, “The institute was established about 31 years ago about 1990. The whole essence is to provide training and capacity building for the whole postal workers not only in Nigeria but in the West African sub-region. This is the whole work the institute has been doing for the past years.”
On his findings, the Dr Adewusi admitted, “the structures are in a very bad state of dis repair and it is very unfortunate that we are operating in this environment. The roads are in a bad shape. The buildings are in a terrible state of disrepair and we need urgent remedial action and to do some serious renovation of the property here so that we can, at least, try to achieve the mandate of the establishment of the institute.”
Also speaking on the institute becoming a rough diamond, the PMG emphatically affirmed, “this is not redemption. It is just a little effort with some funds-backing it. We’ll transform this place in no time and that is what we are determined to do.
“Of course, you all know the state of the economy of our country today. Funding is a major obstacle but even within the limited resources available to NIPOST, we shall do all within our powers to ensure that this place is transformed.”
