The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has totalled the number of mails recorded in its 2,794 post offices across Nigeria as 17.66 million in the year 2021.
Investors King reports that the NIPOST had a decrease in revenue of 22.79 per cent as it generated N3.63 billion.
The details were contained in its recent National Bureau of Statistics report issued on Tuesday.
According to the NBS report, EMS/Speedpost amounted to N1.27 billion which was 35.14 per cent of the total revenue generated by the postal agency. For the parcel clearance/delivery fee section, N689.12 million was recorded while N299.66 million was the fund obtained from the NIPOST premises and space.
The report further gave the breakdown of the mails sent as 8,111,461 local mails and 1,040,461 international mails while 8,504,846 mails were received from abroad which amounted to 17,656,768 in all.
“The agency handled a total of 17,656,768 mails domestically and internationally in 2021. About 8,111,461 mails were handled domestically, representing 45.94 per cent of the total mails, while 1,040,461 mails were dispatched abroad, representing 5.89 per cent of the total mails.
“However, 8,504,846 mails were received from abroad and delivered in Nigeria, representing 48.17 per cent of the total mails handled in the year. Also, in 2021, the number of post offices in Nigeria stood at 2,794,” says the report.
Commenting on the report, former Postmaster-General, NIPOST, Dr Ismail Adewusi blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the twist in the agency’s revenue stream.
Dr Adewusi hinted that 60 per cent of NIPOST revenue was usually generated from exported items which was affected by the global pandemic as several borders were closed.
“The pandemic brought about several challenges to our operations as a postal operator. We are the designated postal operator for Nigeria.
“The problem that happened following the pandemic was that the entire global postal operations stopped because of the closure of several borders. During the pandemic, it was difficult. 60 per cent of our revenue comes from the export of items, particularly mail, parcels, and cargo,” he explained.