The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has said it is now set to deliver financial services across Nigeria and beyond, leveraging its International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) and Super Agent licenses.
The Service is banking on these two new services and its e-commerce drive to further push its revenue, which surpassed N10 billion last year.
The Postmaster General and CEO of NIPOST, Tola Odeyemi, disclosed this during a Channels TV interview monitored by Nairametrics.
According to her, the Service has renewed its licenses with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and paid some fines to begin delivery of financial services after about eight years since the business was shut down.
“NIPOST has two licenses, a Super Agents license as well as an International Money Transfer Operator license. Unfortunately, something had happened with that IMTO license, and it was shut down for about seven, eight years.
“But last year, we were able to pay off all the fines, and it’s now back up,” she said.
Multilateral agreement to facilitate cross-border payments
To facilitate cross-border payments and remittance, Odetola said NIPOST has begun signing bilateral agreements with different countries.
According to her, African countries are the main target because that is where most Nigerians face challenges in cross-border payments.
“Sending money from Cameroon to Nigeria is harder than sending money from the U.S. to Nigeria. So, right now we’ve signed bilaterals with Togo, Benin, and I think a couple of other countries.
“There’s a particular agreement that right now is going through the justice system,” she said.
Beyond N10 billion revenue
While disclosing that the agency exceeded the N10 billion annual benchmark last year, Odetola said that the record would become insignificant with the new push into other businesses.
“We actually surpassed N10 billion last year, and that was just by digitizing some of our processes and plugging leakages.
“I think for the Nigerian Postal Service, N10 billion naira is a scratch,” she added.
- According to her, the major services of NIPOST can generate much more for the nation, even as operations within the organization have been drastically optimized to ensure optimal service delivery that yields more revenue.
- Odeyemi highlighted several transformation strategies, including deeper integration with Nigeria’s fast-growing e-commerce space, expanding digital services like PostMoni, and leveraging the National Addressing System to boost financial inclusion and security.
- She explained that if the Nigeria Police adopts NIPOST’s addressing framework, the Force can better combat crimes and improve emergency responses.
What you should know
Last year, Nairametrics reported that NIPOST was targeting N10 billion in revenue for the year.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, had, on assumption of office, asked Nigerians to suggest how NIPOST could be repositioned to make an impact in the digital economy.
- According to some of the suggestions, an ideal NIPOST would be the one that operates like the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in the logistics industry, serving as the open backbone infrastructure for licensed courier companies to power logistics for commerce and trade across the country.
- It was also suggested that NIPOST would need to actively support and integrate with e-commerce platforms to enhance online shopping experiences.
- This involves efficient last-mile delivery, returns management, and secure payment gateways.