yeah
really
back in the day
in the 1970s
and in the 1980s
the Postal System
i.e
the Postal Service
was an integral component
of
the everyday daily life
of
the ordinary Nigeria citizens
and
the ordinary Nigeria residents.
for example,
if
a folk were
geographically situated
in
Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria
( .. or
in
earlier geographical terminology / geo-political terminology.. )
in
Onitsha, East Central State, Nigeria
and
wished to communicate
with a folk
in
Ebute-Metta, Lagos State, Nigeria
the usual viable
method / methodology
was to
do so
by
writing a letter
and
placing that letter in an envelope,
sealing the letter
and then
buying a postage stamp to stick on the letter
and then
dropping the letter in the appropriate destination box
at the post office
.. or
if you were privileged to
live/work in an environment that had
Post Office Box Pillars/Cabinets that functioned
dropping it off into one of those
Post Office Box Cabinets/ Pillars
for the Mail Men
to pick/collect
and
despatch accordingly/appropriately.
at this period in time
telephones were a privilege
in Nigeria
and
only comparatively few folks had telephones
in their homes
across Nigeria
.. and
the bulk of these folks
who had telephones in their homes
were usually
top civil servants [ federal and state ]
and
top private sector personnel.
most of
such
top civil servants
and
top private sector personnel
often
lived in
official quarters
i.e
official accommodation
and so
the telephones/ telephone lines
were
invariably
usually
the property of
the organisations they worked for.
there were phones
in
many offices
[ both Government and Private Sector ]
however
having such telephones
was
by and large
a privilege
and
the number of offices
which
needed / required / wanted
phones
was
far more than
the number that had.
similarly,
having telephones
in
one’s personal residence
was
by and large
a privilege
and
the number of homes
which
needed / required / wanted
phones
was
far more than
the number that had.
i will leave the issue of
the level of general functionality of
these phones
to another post.
i will also leave anecdotes of
“oga, the telephone pair has been removed by someone
and
that is why your phone is not working.
you have to buy another pair”
to another post.
i will just simply say
that
posting a letter
was
a readily accessible means of communication
for folks
who lived in locations
within the ambit
of the reach of
P&T
or
NiPost which it was later separated into.
P&T = Posts & Telecommunications
i.e
Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications
i.e
Federal Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications
NiPost = Nigerian Postal Service
i will leave the discourse
on
the length of time
it usually took
a letter
posted
for example
at
Ebute Metta Post Office, Lagos State
to get to
for example
a residence
at
New Market Road, Onitsha, Anambra State / East Central State
to another post.
i will just simply say that
back then
graduates looking for employment
generally used to
go through vacancies
advertised in the newspapers
e.g
Daily Times of Nigeria newspaper
and
respond to the advertisements
by
sending their applications
via
posted letters
to the
given company addresses.
i will leave the discourse on
the efficacy of
this methodology
to another post.
it will suffice here
to say that
the Postal System
was
an integral part
of
the daily lives
of
Nigeria residents and Nigeria citizens
and
folks sent letters
( both official and private)
to
folks within Nigeria and outside Nigeria
using
the services of P&T
and later
NiPost
after P&T was separated into NiPost and NiTel.
NiTel = Nigerian Telecommunications Services Ltd
[ TO BE CONTINUED ]
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