10 BILLION NAIRA SCANDAL ROCKS NIPOST

Towards the end of 2023, a scandalous discovery of mis-management of public fund rocked the airwaves as the Senate uncovered the mis-appropriation of a 10 Billion naira restructuring fund released by the Ministry of Finance to Nigeria's flagship postal service, NIPOST to boost the services of the government agency and ordered a probe into the alleged infraction.

The Senate gave the order via its resolution of December 30, 2023, noting that there was transfer of federal government shares in two NIPOST subsidiaries, NIPOST Properties and Development Company and the NIPOST Transport and Logistics Services Limited to private individuals, a move the Senate declared as “irregular and illegal” and ordered their immediate winding-up, de-registration and recovery of the entire sum of money involved.

The Senate’s resolution reads: 

“The sum of 10 Billion naira released by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and re-capitalisation be investigated and the funds fully recovered, if established to be injudiciously utilised, by the relevant committee of the Assembly charged with the responsibility of fiscal prudence.”

Findings from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) confirmed that as of November 8, 2023, some top officials of BPE control significant shares in the subsidiaries and that after receiving a letter on the infraction, the individuals involved hurriedly re-assigned their shares in NIPOST Transport and Logistics to three government entities – NIPOST (80 per cent); BPE (10 per cent); and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (10 per cent).

Earlier in 2021, the Federal Government unveiled plans to unbundle NIPOST into three viable subsidiary companies — a property company, a microfinance bank, as well as a transport and logistics company and in the first few weeks of 2023, NIPOST workers embarked on a protest over “irregularities” in the ongoing reform/ commercialisation of the agency.

Ismail Adebayo Adewusi 

The last two Post-Masters General who served as the Chief Executive Officers of NIPOST, Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adewusi and Hon. Sunday Adepoju, are both from Ibarapa-East local government area of Oyo state and served between December, 2019 and October, 2023.

Sunday Adepoju 

 And in the same month of October, 2023, Tola Odeyemi, a former special adviser to Lagos state government was appointed Postmaster General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), and has vowed to turn the Service into a world-class e-commerce and logistics hub.