Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, adopts 3 word addresses
Nigeria's postal service, NIPOST, has adopted the innovative global addressing system which3words becomes the seventh country globally and third in Africa.
The system is already being used for mail deliveries in Mongolia, Saint Maarten, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands. Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and its most populous country with approximately 184 million inhabitants. It has the seventh largest population in the world.
Nigeria's poor addressing system means that only 20% of its residents receive mail at home. 79% of homes and businesses can not receive deliveries to the door, and the remaining 1% receive their mail using one of the 478,000 PO boxes throughout the country.
A postcode system does exist, but only 5% of mail gets properly addressed with the postal code, hampering the efforts of NIPOST to improve its quality of service.
Determined to improve this situation, NIPOST has set itself the ambitious target of increasing home delivery to 70% within the next 2 years and 90% by 2020 through the Mail for Every House Initiative (MEHI), and has adopted what3words to help it achieve these Goals.
The innovative global addressing system has divided the world into 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, each with a unique 3 word address. Det betyr at alle hjem og forretninger i Nigeria har en enkel og korrekt adresse som er lett å huske og å bruke. For example, bracelets.hesitations.mutes refers to the exact 3m x 3m square at the entrance to the main post office in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
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. Det er mere præcist enn traditionelle streetadresser, enklere end landmark-baseret retninger, og lettere at huske og kommunikere end GPS koordinater. Systemet har inbyggt fejldetektering og er tilgjengelig via en gratis mobilapp og API-integrasjon. The system works offline, without a data connection.
"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. "Better addressing is a key to NIPOST's agenda, which aims to transform, innovate, and deliver more services to more people across the country".
Young people make up 62% of Nigeria's population, and this is reflected in the significant increase in cross-border e-commerce in the country; 53,612 parcels and packets were handled in 2016 (approximately 200 per day) which is up 70% since 2014.
The e-commerce market is currently worth $ 12 billion, but there is still huge potential for growth. Med forbedringer til infrastruktur, innovasjon omkring betalningssystemer og et pålideligt adresseringssystem, Nigerian e-handel kunne sættes på take-off på en utrolig skala.
"With a rapidly growing ecommerce ecosystem, Nigeria is a very exciting country to be working with," said Chris Sheldrick, CEO and Co-founder of what3words. "Postal services play a critical role in building a strong economy, and NIPOST is focused on the future, and is in the process of modernizing and increasing their capacity and range of services."
