The new Postmaster General of NIPOST, Engr. Tola Odeyemi has apparently been reading her social media mentions. She just announced the launch of the agency’s Digital Payment Solution for Inbound Postal Items, a significant plan that is built with some of Nigeria’s biggest tech names. But the real headline isn’t what they launched; it’s who they launched it with.
This isn’t a clunky, internally-built government portal. This is a public-private partnership with the best in the business:
- Paystack: Nigeria’s top-tier, world-class payment gateway.
- Sendbox: A leading e-commerce and logistics company.
- Messenger: A logistics partner to help handle the last-mile delivery.
This is a massive cultural shift. The “new” NIPOST isn’t trying to do everything itself. It’s “plugging in” to the private sector’s best-in-class tools.
How It Works (And What It Kills)
The new system is designed to attack the old frustrations, one by one.
- It Kills the “Surprise Charge”: The system integrates a real-time customs duty calculator. Before your parcel is even out for delivery, the exact customs duty is calculated.
- It Kills the “Cash-Only” Counter: You get a notification with the exact amount, and you pay it online, instantly, using Paystack. It’s transparent.
- It Kills the “Endless Queues”: Because payment is handled digitally, the system enables true door-to-door delivery tracking, managed by logistics pros.
The Minister of Communications, Dr Bosun Tijani (represented by his Permanent Secretary), put it perfectly. He said this is “what happens when government institutions stop working in isolation and start working in partnership.”
He called the old way, the hidden charges and long queues, a barrier to trade, especially for the small e-commerce businesses NIPOST should be helping. “When citizens lose time and money navigating inefficient systems,” he said, “we all lose value as a nation.”
The New NIPOST: “I Read Your Social Media Mentions”
What makes this story so different is the attitude of NIPOST’s new leadership. The Postmaster General, Engr. Tola Odeyemi was refreshingly blunt. She didn’t just talk about “digitisation”; she owned the problem.
“We are solving a long-standing customer pain point: one that has been voiced repeatedly on social media, in post offices and through customer feedback,” she said. Then she added the line that proves the culture has changed: “I personally receive all the emails and mentions on social media. These frustrations are valid.
This is the sound of a legacy institution finally becoming “citizen-centred.” Odeyemi is signalling that NIPOST is ready to move from a 20th-century mail-sorter to a 21st-century logistics and e-commerce backbone.
The Bigger Picture: The Fight for Relevance
This isn’t just about making parcel pickup easier. This is about NIPOST’s survival. You have to connect the dots from the last 18 months. In a world of email and private logistics giants, a post office has to evolve or die. This is their evolution.
- Dot 1 (September 2024): NIPOST announced it was targeting N10 billion in revenue. You don’t get that from selling stamps. You get it by leveraging your massive, nationwide infrastructure.
- Dot 2 (May 2025): NIPOST secured Super Agent and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses.
This is the master plan. NIPOST is leveraging its one unbeatable asset, its physical footprint in every single corner of Nigeria, and turning it into a platform.
With the IMTO/Super Agent licenses, your local post office becomes a bank branch and a remittance point. And with this new Paystack/Sendbox partnership, that same post office becomes a seamless, trusted hub for e-commerce.
This isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a full-on reinvention. NIPOST is finally stopping to act like a siloed “rival” to the private sector and starting to act like its most powerful “co-creator.”
