Data from the National Bureau of Statistics reveals that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) generated N3.01 billion in revenue in 2022.
This represents a significant decrease of 43.9 per cent compared to the N5.37 billion earned in 2019.
The NBS, in its 2022 postal services data released on Monday, indicates that the total revenue from postal activities in 2022 declined by 17.05 per cent from N3.63 billion in 2021 to N3.01 billion in 2022.
This drop is even more pronounced when compared to the 2019 figure, which was a 44 per cent decrease.
Despite the decrease in the number of post offices, the bureau reports that the number of international mail received in Nigeria and delivered increased significantly, by 107 per cent, from 9.4 million in 2019 to 19.5 million in 2022.
Additionally, the data shows that revenue from Postcash, an electronic money order service for sending and receiving money nationwide and worldwide, experienced substantial growth.
It increased by an impressive 3,424 per cent, rising from N458,546 in 2019 to N16.16 million in 2022.
It’s worth noting that the federal government announced plans in August 2021 to unbundle NIPOST into three viable subsidiary companies: a property company, a microfinance bank, and a transport and logistics company.
These changes aimed to revamp the agency, but they also led to protests by NIPOST workers in January of the same year, who alleged “irregularities” in the ongoing reform and commercialization of the agency, claiming that much of it was shrouded in secrecy.