Jimoh Ayinla Bashir
The General Post Office, Ilorin, like any other General Post Offices especially in the other northern part of Nigeria has a peculiar feature that derives importance and also adds value to institutions, establishments, business outlets around it, some of which gives birth to wild social life.
Jimoh Ayinla Bashir
The first feature of the General Post Office, from which it derives its uniqueness is its location, at the heart of the state capital, Ilorin from where every other place(s), both far and near, could be visited with relative ease.
The building itself, according to findings, was constructed in the 60s during the P&T era, and occasional renovation adds to its uniqueness, beautifying the landscape of Ilorin.
This, however, gave it a dual identity. First, it’s the General Post Office, established to deliver post and telecommunication duties. The aim of the postal service is to make information available to the most rural areas, and to the most under-privileged persons in Nigeria.
The second identity has to do with all the activities, business, social life, and other things that happened around the post office, and the name itself. And that’s why it’s either referred to as General Post Office or Post Office Area.
A post office is a customer service facility forming part of a national postal system. The post office offers mail-related services such as acceptance of letters and parcels for delivery, provision of post office boxes, and sale of postage stamps, packaging and stationery.
The post office offers additional services which include: providing and accepting government forms, processing government services, and fees, as well as banking services.
And according to the Area Postal Manager, Kwara Territory, Tpl Emmanuel Olusanya John, the relevance of the Nigeria Postal Service is increasing every day, because of the need to document every verbal or internet activity for evidence purposes.
To a layman on the street, NIPOST deals with the acceptance and delivery of mails and parcels only, the services which transporters now undertakes as part of their activities. Some of the well-established transport companies even have separate departments for acceptance and delivery of mails and parcels, and a bit faster but costlier.
NIPOST conducts commercial activities through logistic services by bringing goods to the doorsteps of their customers and making information available to them as to the whereabouts of the finished product of various organizations.
To Tpl John, Nigeria Postal Service is one of the real-time or actual services that is tangible and real and can be evaluated by anybody.
“Actually, NIPOST is ever relevant to achieve actively commercial and institutional activities in the economy.
To underscore the importance of NIPOST in modern-day, especially the birth of social media, the post is planning to break new grounds.
One of the first examples of globalization, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established 142 years ago, as a means of creating a seamless network for communicating across borders, allowing the post to deliver the world. Industry dynamics and customer demands have today pushed the post to deliver right to customers’ homes, at their doorstep.
However, that is changing rapidly. Modern information and communications technologies have created a new type of customer for whom delivering at the doorstep are not enough; they want services when and where they need it. The demand is for more flexible and personalized services.
While these innovations may be disruptive, it is hoped that as it happened with other advancements before now, the post will turn these challenges into opportunities and stay relevant to its customers. To achieve this, the post must continuously transform and find new ways to go beyond simply delivering to the customer’s doorstep.
In the Istanbul World Postal Strategy, the UPU has provided a suitable platform that will guide the postal industry between 2017-2020 and beyond. Under this plan, the strategy sets out to achieve three important goals: To improve the interoperability of network infrastructure, ensure sustainability and modern products, and foster market and sector functioning. Leading the transformation agenda is UPU’s Vision 2020, which will focus on innovations, integration, and inclusion, to businesses over the next four years.
NIPOST must work towards creating a postal world where innovation is shared, promoted, and delivered; where postal networks are integrated internationally, regionally, and naturally; and where the post is seen as a vehicle for inclusive development by governments, development partners, and international organizations.
Above all, the industry has to identify new opportunities being brought about by customers’ daily needs and expectations in all facets of their lives.
Post Office Area in Ilorin, just like Fleet Street in London, has a significant number of businesses and interesting points north, east, west, and south of the General Post Office, which symbolizes this feature.
The street across the face of the General Post Office, coming from Challenge junction up to the Maraba area, known as Muritala Mohammed Road, the Emir Road, which goes through the right side of the General Post Office to the Station area, the Railway Station, Obbo Road, and its surrounding are mostly referred to as Post Office Area.
Just at the back of the General Post Office building is the former Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) Office, which is now being occupied by Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). We also have the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kwara State, and opposite the financial institution is the Kwara State Library.
Life in and around this circle is more or less hour round. We have a couple of filling stations that sell fuel till the late hours of the day and close to the ones at the Station, some hawkers sell fuel at black market rates, especially during scarcity. And because of the closeness of the area to the Railway Station, there is occasional traffic congestion especially when railways are shunting or moving across.
There is also the Abuja Line Shopping Complex, where different types of ready-made wears and shoes are sold, phone and phone accessory shops, and at the Station road, we have shops where second-hand clothes, shoes, and bags are sold. They are popularly known as ‘bend down boutiques’.
As early as 4 O’Clock in the morning, the show begins at the Post Office Area, with transporters canvassing for passengers that are going to long and short routes. We also have those selling recharge cards, tea and bread as well as puff-puff and snacks, all adding clour to the gathering.
At the rail sides and other jungles around the Post Office Area, we have standing and make-shift spots where they sell illicit gins, burukutu, and assorted hot drinks. The make-shift spots surface only in the early part of the morning and close again to return in the night. They are good customers of the drivers and their conductors. The drinks are taken with pork meat, dog meat, or beef. They sometimes sell fish and other types of pepper soups.
We also have traders who either erect make-shift shops or display their wares on walk-ways in and around the Post Office Area. The Ministry of Environment has done much by occasionally driving the traders away, only for them to come back again after the dust must have settled.
The post office and its area is also one of the few places in Ilorin that has the largest flow of hawkers. There are also numerous shops, business units, and houses of worship, like the District Headquarters of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church and others in the area that adds to the heavy flow of people. We have a heavy concentration of business around the area.
The post office Area is one of the few areas where you can get taxis or Okada to your destination in and outside Ilorin even very late in the night and early part of the morning.
Very close to Post Office Area is also the popular Obbo Road, which extends through the Station area. During the day, Obbo Road is a quiet business street and environment, where foodstuffs and different types of wears are sold.
Towards the Unity end of the road is more or less a market where you can buy pepper, meat, chicken, live and dry fish, yam, and others. This road and Station road, as well as the rail areas, assumes different posture in the night. Around Obbo Road, we have numerous Beer Parlours, Pepper Soup joints, and Palm-Wine spots. And at Station Road, we have established and make-shift Guest Houses that operate short time spots where women of different sizes and sex hawkers congregate seeking customers.
In and around this area, sex workers materialize from nowhere, mostly old women, lining up the roadside, corridors, and close to any Beer Parlour. They dress seductively, most times in transparent lingerie with mini-skirts or short pants, carelessly eating chewing gums, taking drinks, or smoking cigarettes. They display their breasts of assorted sizes to arrest the attention of men who might need their services.
And occasionally, the mamas fight the younger sex workers for some men whom they refer to as ‘my customer’. But no matter how we see these classes of people, they are arguably friends of society because of the number of customers they get daily.
Because of the heavy flow of traffic as well as the relevance of the Post Office Area to the city of Ilorin, the Kwara State government constructed a fly-over bridge at the axis of the metropolis.
The flyover, first of its kind in the region was constructed to ease traffic congestion. The construction of the flyover has led to the renewal and sanitization of one of the busiest areas in the metropolis.
The fly-over was built and commissioned by the President of the Senate, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki in June 2010, when he was Governor of the state. The fly-over bridge cuts across the traffic prone areas. The relevance of the bridge is being felt by the citizens who believe the bridge and its strategic location has greatly reduced traffic congestion, especially for those moving from challenge junction to Muritala Mohammed Road.
