Experts urge support for postal service upgrade in Africa

Postal services in Africa need to be supported in order to meet global standards and compete internationally, experts said on Monday at a conference on African postal services in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

The conference, organized by Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU), a specialized institution of the African Union, intended to seek ways to enable postal services in Africa embark upon the digitization of the sector.

“We are currently engaged in the revolution of African postal services, but we have problems of finance and resources,” said Younouss Djibrine, secretary general of PAPU.

According to Djibrine, digital services for e-post, e-commerce, and e-government are a growing area of opportunity to increase the relevance of postal services to changing customer needs in Africa.

“The market now in some African countries is really challenging. What we are doing is in a network and Africa is seen as the weakest,” Djibrine said.

Cameroon’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Minette Libom Li Likeng, who presided at the conference, recommended an overhaul of African postal services in order to create a sustainable business model and prevent financial risk. PAPU spearheads the transformation of the postal sector in Africa through innovative, integrative and encourage cooperation among stakeholders, with a view to promoting reforms in physical, electronic and financial postal network.

Source: GNA