Minister of communications Isa Pantami orders NIPOST to suspend new charges

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has ordered the Nigerian Postal Service to halt the implementation of the new charges on courier and logistics companies immediately.

Pantami said this in a tweet on Saturday.

He said, “Please NIPOST, our attention has been drawn to an increase of licence fee, which was not part of the regulation I earlier approved for you. Your chairman and PMG (Postmaster-General) were yesterday contacted to put the implementation on hold and send a report to our ministry by Monday. Best wishes!”

Logistics companies that operate within regions are expected to pay N5m for licence and N2m annually.

RELATED: New Regulations Aimed At Protecting Genuine Courier Operators – NIPOST

For firms that operate within states, the cost of procuring a licence is N2m while the renewal costs N800, 000.

Courier firms that operate within municipalities are to pay N1m for licence and N400,000 annually.

For Small and Medium Enterprises, the licence is N250,000 while the annual renewal of the licence is N100,000.

The SME category is for small courier firms which have not more than five delivery vehicles

The move, it was learnt, would increase the cost of goods purchased online.

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION: The Management of NIPOST felt, it was within its power to increase fees without our final approval. They stated: "the issues of fees, penalties & day to day administration are devolved in Section 6 (3) on NIPOST."
REPLY: Pls stop it, respond to our msg

— Isa Ali Pantami, PhD (@DrIsaPantami) July 25, 2020