TheCable

The joint committee of the senate on the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal strategy paper (FSP) says it will recommend a bill to the red chamber, that will “fully privatise” the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) because of its dwindling revenue.

The committee announced the decision on Tuesday when Tola Odeyemi, postmaster-general of the federation, appeared before the panel to defend NIPOST’s 2024 budget.

Sani Musa, chairman of the committee, asked Odeyemi to present a viable business model that would enable NIPOST to generate more revenue.

“NIPOST should have been fully privatised before now because nobody is feeling their impact anywhere in the country,” Musa said.

“We are ready to recommend to the Senate in plenary, full privatisation of the NIPOST except the Postmaster General convinces us otherwise.

“The CEO of NIPOST should forward to the secretariat of our committee details of her business model on how the agency would be generating adequate revenues for the country through creative ideas.

“Failure to do this would leave the Senate with no other option than to recommend the full privatisation of NIPOST.”

The committee queried why the agency is seeking to increase its personnel cost from N13 billion in 2023 to N18 billion for its 16, 000 workers across the country.

Earlier, the postmaster-general explained that the increase in personnel cost was due to the government’s decision to increase the remuneration of federal workers.