Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has said that the Federal Government would soon unveil policies to unbundle the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST).
The Minister who made this disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja at the unveiling ceremony of the NIPOST revenue stamp, described NIPOST as one of the most important institutions of government, adding that policies that would transform its operations and make it innovative would soon be unveiled.
“We have so many policies of transforming NIPOST in the pipeline and part of it will unbundle NIPOST. We also have the ACT of NIPOST going into an amendment.
“We have a plan with a property and development company that will bring together all the properties of NIPOST, develop them and make sure that the government generates revenue from them.
“All generated revenue will go into developing sectors like health, education, agriculture, security and other social developments,” he said.
Pantami further disclosed that other aspects of NIPOST unbundling that will take place before the end of the year include NIPOST transport and logistics, courier services and microfinance bank.
The Minister expressed the hope that NIPOST will become a world-class outfit and praised stakeholders for their unrelenting efforts in remodelling and recording modest achievements recently.
Earlier in his address, the Postmaster-General (PMG) of NIPOST, Dr Ismail Adewusi, stated that over the years, Nigeria’s history had been documented through stamps.
“Through stamps, NIPOST has documented Nigeria’s history, educating and preserving our national heritage among others. Stamps have served as objects of visual communication and dependable recorder of events for prosperity,” he said.
The PMG said revenue stamps were first issued when the Niger coast and southern Nigerian protectorates merged into a colony and protectorate of Nigeria in 1938, recalling that after the time of the merger, series of rare revenue stamps were produced.
He urged the public to avail themselves of the new revenue stamps for the authentication and validation of documents and denotation of duties or fees.
“We have about 25 million copies of the stamp unveiled today for sale at the rate of N50 each and it is available for sale in all our postal outfits nationwide. We are hopeful it will be sold out in the next two weeks and then we commence reproduction,’’ he said.
Chairman, NIPOST Governing Board, Maimuna Abubakar, said the unveiling of stamps marked a milestone in the effort towards institutionalising a culture of excellence in NIPOST public service delivery.
NIPOST she said, is back to its legal position of administration of stamps and effectively contributing to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
“We are thankful with the signing into law of the amended Finance Act 2020 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“There is no need overstating the obvious that NIPOST stamps have been unquestionably used since time immemorial as the only instrument for denoting duty and today’s event is a testament.
“I strongly believe that NIPOST can thrive on revenue generation, considering the massive network, infrastructure and opportunities around it,” she said.
