Nigeria’s postal service, NIPOST has set itself the ambitious target of increasing home delivery to 70 percent within the next 2 years and 90 percent by 2020 through the ‘mail for every house initiative (MEHI), just as it has adopted an innovative addressing system, what3words to help it achieve these goals.
The innovative global addressing system is a unique pre-assigned 3-word address using an algorithm and each 3-word address refers to a precise 3m x 3m square somewhere in the world and it easy to remember, and to share via email, text or over the phone.
NIPOST hopes to use what3words to increase the number of homes it can deliver to and improve delivery services in preparation for the take-off of Nigerian e-commerce.
“We are very pleased to be collaborating with what3words as an addressing solution with huge potential to unlock opportunities,” said Barrister Bisi Adegbuyi, Nigeria’s Postmaster General, adding: “Better addressing is a key to NIPOST’s agenda, which aims to transform, innovate, and deliver more services to more people all over the country.”
“With a rapidly growing e-commerce ecosystem, Nigeria is a very exciting country to be working with,” said Chris Sheldrick, CEO and Co-founder of what3words.
“Postal services have a critical role in building a strong economy and NIPOST are firmly focused on the future, and are taking steps to modernise and grow their capacity and range of services,” he added.
Nigeria’s poor addressing system ensures that only 20 percent of its inhabitants receive mail at home; 79 percent of homes and businesses cannot receive deliveries to the door, and the remaining 1 percent receives their mail using one of the 478,000 P.O. boxes throughout the country.
Although a postcode system does exist, only five percent of mails gets properly addressed with the postcode, hampering the efforts of NIPOST to improve its quality of service
What3words has divided the world into 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, each with a unique 3-word address. With its adoption in Nigeria, it means that every home and business in Nigeria will have a simple and accurate address that is easy to remember and to use.
Available in 14 languages, with many more currently in development, what3words is used in over 170 countries by governments, postal services, logistics companies, emergency services and NGOs, as well as individuals.
It is more accurate than traditional street addresses, simpler than landmark-based directions, and easier to remember and communicate than GPS coordinates. The system has built-in error detection and is available through a free mobile app and API integration. The system even works offline, without a data connection.
Nigeria becomes the third country in Africa to adopt what3words, and the third in Africa.
