The ding-dong over the reform of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, has lingered for so long. And the 16,000 staff, like their counterparts in the four refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), have been idle, collecting salaries and allowances without rendering the services for which they are employed.
The reform, an offshoot of the federal government’s policy on privatisation and commercialisation programmes for its underperforming enterprises, was supposed to optimise their delivery of services and enhance their productivity. Towards this, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), on October 31, 2017, approved the Reform of the Postal Sector and specifically, the Restructuring and Modernisation of NIPOST.
In 2021, the federal government unveiled plans to unbundle NIPOST into three viable subsidiary companies – The three new subsidiaries created were NIPOST Properties and Development Company Limited (RC1673880), NIPOST Transport and Logistics Service Limited (RC1673881), and NIPOST Microfinance Bank Limited (RC1673882).
But the unbundling soon ran into troubled waters, especially with the N10 billion released by the Federal Ministry of Finance for its restructuring and recapitalisation, which was captured in the 2022 budget. The N10 billion was allegedly partly spent to register the two companies, NIPOST Transport and Logistics Limited and NIPOST Properties, which took off in May 2023.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives decided to investigate the disbursement of the funds, alleging malfeasance. Even its workers alleged “irregularities” as they protested the reform/commercialisation of the agency.
Following its investigations in November 2023, the House of Representatives approved the winding up and deregistration of the subsidiaries of NIPOST, deeming their establishment “irregular and illegal.” On December 30, 2023, the Senate said there was an illegal transfer of federal government shares in two NIPOST subsidiaries to private individuals within the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and NIPOST, as shareholders, joining the House in recommending their immediate winding-up and deregistration.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu put a nail on the postal reform initiative through a Presidential directive to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the NIPOST subsidiaries to fold up, in May 2024.
Since then, NIPOST has been largely gridlocked. Yet, the agency is a vital platform that drives the nation’s economy by way of its primary duty of connecting individuals, businesses, and communities through its vast network of post offices and employees.
But because of its declining state, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that the number of post offices and postal agencies in Nigeria fell to 2,251 in 2022, a 19.43 per cent decline from the 2,794 recorded in 2021. The total revenue from postal activities fell by 17.05 per cent to N3.01bn in 2022 from N3.63bn in 2021.
These national assets should not be left to continue their decline while Nigerians are denied the services they ought to render. After all, the agency has come a long way as part of the nation’s landscape before its diminished state. It dates back to 1852 when the first post office was established in Lagos by the British Colonial Masters as a branch of London General Post Office until 1874. On January 1, 1985, NIPOST became a department, along with the establishment of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).
At a point in history, it served dual purposes of delivering packages and providing financial inclusion, especially for unbanked rural dwellers. The Postmaster-General of the Federation, Tola Odeyemi, has stated that the federal government is committed to making NIPOST an affordable, last-mail delivery hub solution for goods and services. This is what Nigerians expect now, not ballooning its personnel cost from N13 billion in 2023 to N18 billion in 2024, for an agency that is on its knees.
We at Daily Trust call for transparency in all affairs concerning NIPOST to ensure that its prime property assets, estimated in trillions of naira, does not fall into the wrong hands. Everything must follow established legal frameworks.
The staff and management of NIPOST must face the reality of the time- to either shape up or slid into irrelevance. It should take advantage of the growth of information technology by becoming a leading e-commerce centre in the country, and reorganise itself to accommodate the distribution/delivery of products for private delivery companies. It should be a major player in the growth of retail business in Nigeria. The nation’s geographical mass and population can sustain a viable NIPOST, if it can be run efficiently.
Daily Trust therefore calls on the federal government to come out and urgently too, with its plan on NIPOST. It should tell Nigerians what it wants out of the agency and the pathway to realising same. The unbundling process has been halted with nothing to replace it. This is most unacceptable. So, if up till now, the federal government has found no use for NIPOST or the way forward for it, the only sensible thing to do is to scrap it.