FMCT Unlocks NIPOST, Targets 300,000 Jobs

Ministry of Communication Technology (FMCT) has perfected plans to unlock the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) in order to create 300,000 agents who will drive financial inclusion, amongst other initiatives, according to the FMCT Progress Report on Projects & Programmes Implementation obtained by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek.

The report, said that the ministry, the NIPOST and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in conjunction with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have embarked on a project that will result in leveraging the postal network to deliver financial services to the people.

The scheme will ensure financial inclusion of under-served areas by banks and people that are traditionally marginalized by such institutions and are considered as living at the “bottom of the pyramid”.

To achieve the aim, the Federal Government through its public-private participation initiative is tinkering on NIPOST composition with the objective to establish a network of over 300,000 agents all across Nigeria.

In the report which covered July 2011 to February 2014, the Ministry disclosed government’s interest to reach the rural dweller, pointing out that postal outlets have relatively good presence in the 774 Local Government Areas and consequently can contribute substantially to bringing financial services nearer to the rural population.

Whilst 32% of Nigerians live or work between five and fifteen minutes of a bank branch, the rest 61% live or work between five to fifteen minutes of a post office.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek on the impact of the 300,000 for “Agent Banking”, Mr. Sola Bickersteth, director, One Network, said that  “In a short while, the public will begin to feel the impact of the scheme, because we would have moved to the streets and begin full scale operations. The scheme will start will 50,000 trained officers to be dispatched to 1,200 NIPOST outlets across the country”.

One Network is an industry-focused organisation, recognised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as agent manager, providing agent locations for mobile money operators across the country.

Bickersteth said that “It is just like in Banking; the chief executives are people with impeccable character and grounded in the professional ethics. Agent banking is such a scheme that requires competent people who will make the right decisions.

Financial inclusion in Nigeria, for instance, is still at its low ebb. For instance, in 2012, only 28.6 million out of total of 87.9 million Nigerian adults had access to financial services and most unbanked people live in the rural areas.

One reason stakeholders identified as causative of the plight was unavailability of bank branches to potential customers.