Nigerian Migrant Workers Remit $24b Per Annum, Says NIPOST Boss

• Nigerian Migrant Workers Remit $24b Per Annum

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) yesterday revealed that Nigerian migrant workers remit between $23 and $24 billion into the country annually.

Its Post Master-General Adebisi Adegbuyi spoke to reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after his visit to the service’s facilities.

He said: “We are going to start financial services. We stand to make a lot of money from remittances in Africa. Our migrant workers all over remit home between $23 and $23 billion every year.

“That is the formal aspect. The informal sector has not been captured and our people pay 12 per cent on each of the remittances. When post office is involved, they will bring down the cost of remittances.

“I appeared on global forum on investment, remittances and development in New York and we had a roundtable on the role of postal operations in remittances. They can’t push Nigeria back because we have the number here.

“E-commerce is one area that is exponentially growing. People are buying stocks online. If they are buying stocks online, necessarily those parcels must be delivered by an institution and the institution that is better placed to do that is of course NIPOST because of our reach, world. Another issue that is a problem all over the world is addressing system.

“The masters in that area are coming. We have signed MOU with WorldThreeWords. It is a UK based addressing solution company. We have signed MOU with Risket, it is a South African based company; they are bringing their expertise, technology and funds.”

Adegbuyi warned those who had encroached on the property of the service to give them up.

On the encroachment on NIPOST landed property, he said: “Unfortunately, the past is history. I am a lawyer for about 30 years and I am into real estate. That is my turf. Unfortunately, again, it does appear to me that management had slept on their rights.

“They had acquiesced on some of these responsibilities. That is not going to happen under me.

“As I have told people, the sleeping giant that has been sleeping is awake to its responsibilities.”

He said: “I know that criminals use our networks to transport narcotic and banned substances. We have always been alive to our responsibility. We will go into training of sniper dogs to assist us in detecting nefarious activities. We will not relent on our efforts,” he added.