NIPOST revenue fell by 44% in four years, NBS says

Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveal that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) generated N3.01 billion as revenue in 2022 — a 43.9% decline compared to N5.37 billion which was earned in 2019.

The Bureau disclosed this in its 2022 postal services data released recently.

The NBS said the total revenue made from postal activities in 2022 fell by 17.05 percent from N3.63 billion in 2021 to N3.01 billion in 2022. It further dropped by 44 percent when compared to the 2019 figure.

In 2021, Nigeria had 2,794 post offices and postal agencies, according to the organization. However, the number fell to 2,251 by 2022, a 19% decline.

Despite the decline in the number of post offices, the NBS said the number of mail received from abroad and delivered in Nigeria increased by a whopping 107%, from 9.4 million in 2019 to 19.5 million in 2022.

A further analysis reveals that Postcash’s income climbed by 3,424 percent from N458,546 in 2019 to N16.16 million in 2022. Postcash is an electronic money order business that transfers and receives money locally, nationally, and internationally.

In August 2021, the federal government announced intentions to split NIPOST into three financially sound subsidiary firms – a real estate company, a microfinance bank, and a transport and logistics firm.

Numerous modifications were made in an effort to modernize the organization; as a result, NIPOST employees were forced to protest “irregularities” in the agency’s continuing reform/commercialization in January of this year.

The workers, under the aegis of the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC) and the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE), alleged that every aspect of the reform has been shrouded in secrecy.