Senate considers full privatization of NIPOST for enhanced efficiency

The Joint Senate Committee on Medium-Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy is contemplating proposing legislation for the complete privatization of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) to optimize its performance. Senator Sani Musa, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and the MTEF-FSP joint panel, conveyed this during a session where the Postmaster General of the Federation, Tola Odeyemi, defended the agency’s 2024 budget proposal.

Tensions arose when Odeyemi disclosed that NIPOST projected N18 billion as personnel cost for its 16,000 workers nationwide, up from N13 billion in 2023. Musa expressed bewilderment at the increase, questioning why NIPOST, with minimal impact nationwide, would escalate its personnel cost.

Despite Odeyemi attributing the increment to the recent hike in federal workers’ personnel cost by the government, Musa remained unconvinced. In defense of NIPOST’s continued existence as a partially funded federal agency, Senator Ireti Kingibe suggested transforming it into a revenue-generating entity. Kingibe emphasized the need for NIPOST to transition from its outdated analogue operations to digital services.

However, Senator Osita Izunaso disagreed with Kingibe, asserting that NIPOST, in its current structure, should not be supported if the goal is to generate revenue for annual budgets. The joint panel’s chairman weighed in, stating that full privatization should have happened sooner as NIPOST’s impact is scarcely felt across the country.

Expressing readiness to recommend full privatization unless convinced otherwise by the Postmaster General, Musa called for a detailed business model illustrating how NIPOST would generate substantial revenues through innovative ideas. Failure to provide such details would leave the Senate with no alternative but to propose the complete privatization of NIPOST.