By Giwa SHILE
Nigeria ought to produce postage stamps depicting 2018 FIFA World Cup to further market the country to the world, a stamp collector said on Monday.
The stamp collector, Mr. Taiye Olaniyi, expressed the view in Lagos. Olaniyi blamed the inability to produce the stamps on alleged neglect suffered by the philatelic industry.
He said postage stamp was the best mass communication medium to keep memories ‘because it travels wide’.
“We should have produced postage stamps on the ongoing World Cup – Russia 2018 – to enlighten the world again about a peculiar thing in Nigeria.
“People who have never visited Nigeria will get to know more about the country through these postage stamps because they project our culture, history, administration, entertainment and other aspects of life. Most of the country’s stamps still educate people today and will do in the future,” he said.
The stamp collector appealed to the Federal Government to develop the philatelic industry since postage stamps could embrace many subject matters.
He called for seasonal philatelic exhibitions across the states to encourage more people to know Nigeria’s history.
Olaniyi said the government should help in developing the philatelic industry to the extent of establishing philatelic offices in all the states of the federation.
He noted that there was only one philatelic bureau in the country at the moment.
