At a time many Nigerians are getting tired of Minister of Communications endless plans to unbundle now moribund Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) into five enterprises, reality is underway as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), weekend confirmed that takeoff of National Microfinance Bank (NMfB) from January 2019.
The diversification drive for NIPOST is borne out of government’s desire to make good use of the multibillion naira infrastructure owned by the agency which is now a victim of technology disruption.
The Minister, Barr Adebayo Shittu, had been telling Nigerians ever since he was appointed that NIPOST will be restructured into five enterprises.
In an interview with Business Hilights in April this year, he assured that “In NIPOST, we are embarking on rapid modernisation and commercialisation. We will have a NIPOST banking and insurance company, a property and development company, transport and logistics company, an e-commerce service company, and e-government services company”.
Earlier last month, the management of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved the appointment of a transaction adviser for the commercialisation of the Nigeria Postal Services.
As the NMFB takes off next month, some analysts had before now, argued that serving as a bank would grow the nation’s quest to financial inclusion as the bank would have served as the only bank with the highest number of branches in the country.
Trouble of service delivery for NIPOST started since the advent of GSM revolution which pushed up use of sms and even phone calls to relegate letter writing to the lowest traffic ever.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had explained weekend that as part of measure to ensure more credits flow to the grassroots and deepen financial inclusion, the new microfinance bank will thrive.
He added further that NMfB will be instituted in partnership with the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Bankers’ Committee with a takeoff capital base of N5 billion.
Emefiele, who opened up at the 10th Annual Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos, explained that NIPOST will provide the facility for implementation across its 774 local government areas where it has offices.
