NIPOST, LAPO Collaborate on Agent Banking

• NIPOST, LAPO Collaborate on Agent Banking

The Nigerian Postal Service said on Monday that it had reached an agreement with the Lift Above Poverty Organisation Microfinance Bank to support the financial inclusion campaign of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It said the partnership would reduce the savings gap between rural and urban residents in the country.

The Benin Zonal Manager, NIPOST, Mr. Usman Abubakar, disclosed this at a training programme on agent banking organised by the LAPO MFB for the staff of the agency in Benin, Edo State.

Abubakar explained that the agency’s decision was inspired by the desire of the Post-Master General to expand the activities of the postal service to provide efficient services driven by innovation.

He noted that the collaboration with the microfinance bank was also in line with the goal of the CBN to reduce the number of Nigerians without access to banking services.

According to him, the agent banking system is expected to increase the financial inclusion drive of the apex bank to 80 per cent by 2020 and reduce the burden of infrastructure on financial institutions.

He further stated that in addition to serving as a link between its network of consumers and financial institutions, the policy would increase NIPOST’s return on investment.

Abubakar said, “We have the spread and the network and they (banks) do not have them. NIPOST has post offices across the nooks and crannies of the country. So, people in the rural areas do not have to come to the town. We are now putting the services at their doorsteps.”