TheCable

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) generated N3.01 billion as revenue in 2022 — a 43.9 percent decrease compared to N5.37 billion earned in 2019.

The bureau disclosed this in its 2022 postal services data released on Monday.

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.

The agency said Nigeria had 2,794 post offices and postal agencies in 2021. However, by 2022, the number decreased by 19 percent to 2,251.

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

Further analysis by TheCable Index shows that revenue from Postcash, an electronic money order service that sends and receives money nationwide and worldwide, increased by 3,424 percent from N458,546 in 2019 to N16.16 million in 2022.

In August 2021, the federal government unveiled plans to unbundle NIPOST into three viable subsidiary companies — a property company, a microfinance bank, as well as a transport and logistics company.

In a bid to revamp the agency, a lot of changes took place, forcing NIPOST workers in January this year, to embarked on a protest over “irregularities” in the ongoing reform/commercialisation of the agency.

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.