NIPOST begins renewal of 2,000 Post offices nationwide to drive National MFB
The Postmaster General of the country and Managing Director of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Adebisi Adegbuyi, has disclosed that his agency has jump-started preparations ahead of takeoff of the proposed NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB).
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had late last year announced government’s plan to rely on the nationwide facilities of NIPOST to drive microfinance banking operations so as to deepen financial inclusion in rural communities.
In an interview, Adegbuyi revealed that the agency is set to refurbish well over 2000 of its outlets across the country even as the agency has earmarked 106 NIPOST outlets for the first phase of the rollout of the NMFB across the country.
NIPOST boss noted that “The investments made by the government in postal outlets all over the federation in time past would now be put to use to reach the unbanked.
“A lot of Nigerians are unbanked and these unbanked people are mostly in the rural communities and these postal outlets will be leveraged upon to promote financial inclusion in the unbanked communities.
“So what NIPOST is doing essentially is to improve on these outlets to raise them to the structure of a banking environment. We are looking at over 2000 of them nationwide as outlets for the commercial banks and in particular the NMFB.”
Continuing, Adegbuyi added that “Prior to this, the CBN having looked at the infrastructural spread of NIPOST have granted NIPOST a super-agent licence which makes it possible for NIPOST to render financial services on behalf of virtually all the commercial banks in Nigeria.
Business Hilights recalls that ever since he was appointed as Minister of Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu had been emphasising on government’s plan to unbundle NIPOST into five enterprises as a way of returning the sector which was roundly forced out of business by the emergence of GSM services in 2001.
