ICT Expert Accuses NIPOST of Theft for “What3Words’’

Business Remarks October 2, 2018 BUSINESS, E-business, TECHNOLOGY Leave a comment

Adefolajuwon Amoo, an ICT expert and chief executive officer, Arbel Energy and Logistics has accused Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) of intellectual property infringement by adopting a foreign technology “What3Words’’ as the national system for codification of physical addresses in Nigeria.

NIPOST has however denied the allegation, saying that it was false.

But Amoo, said NIPOST’s intention to use a foreign technology to increase the number of homes it could deliver to and improve delivery services in preparation for the take-off of Nigeria’s e-commerce violated Presidential Executive Order No. 5.

Item 6 contained in the Executive Order provides that Ministries, Departments and Agencies shall adopt local technologies to replace foreign ones, where they met set standards.

He, however, said that NIPOST’s adoption of the UK technology, “What3Words”, not only violated the order in promoting indigenous innovations to replace foreign ones but infringed on intellectual property right.

He said that NIPOST poached and disenfranchised his indigenous app, “GridCodes’’, needed for effective codification of addresses in Nigeria.