TAKING advantage of the 2018 World Post Day, the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has launched a new banking service in collaboration with two commercial banks in Nigeria: Wema Bank and Keystone Bank.

The event was held on Tuesday at the Post Office, Oyo town, Oyo state. It was to celebrate NIPOST’s evolution beyond mailing to financial services through agency banking.

In his address, Dotun Ifebogun, Head of Retail and SME Banking at Wema Bank, said NIPOST is now able to carry out banking transactions as well as BVN enrollment, deposits and withdrawal. The new services include deposit of money, withdrawal, payment for external examinations, government and utility fees, and so on.

Ifebogun also said Wema Bank has been engaging with NIPOST for some months in a bid to revolutionise the postal service, adding that the partnership between the two groups goes beyond Oyo town to all communities in Nigeria.

Ayo Ladigbolu, an Archbishop Emeritus of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, who represented the Alaafin of Oyo at the event, said NIPOST is the only organisation that has successfully connected all communities in Nigeria and the world.

“NIPOST has built a foundation of trust that I can boldly say that you should all embrace all products and services that is being launched by NIPOST today,” he said.

Bisi Adegbuyi, Post Master-General and CEO of NIPOST, in his remark said the new services launched by the post shows that it is poised to fulfilling its responsibility “by delivering good and happiness to the world”.

He charged Nigerians to take advantage of the broad range of services, saying utility bills can now be paid at any post office.

The service also launched a “revitalized and renewed” customer contact centre, which operates at all times, in order to enhance customer relations. The centre attends to customers in English, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, and may be reached through 07000647678 or 07000nipost.

Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, had earlier said moves by NIPOST to venture into rural banking are aimed at taking banking services to rural dwellers who lack them and making the agency the biggest revenue-generating establishment of the federal government.

“We hope to establish NIPOST banking and financing in areas where banks don’t have sufficient presence,” Shittu said in August at a stakeholders’ conference organised by Postmaster General of the Federation in Lagos.

“We shall also establish NIPOST properties limited,” he said. “NIPOST has many landed properties scattered across the country and they are going to be used for the properties investments to bring a lot of money into the coffers of NIPOST.

“We are also establishing the NIPOST transport and logistics company, and to add to this is the establishment of NIPOST e-commerce services, which will carter for e-governance particularly with the application and delivery of drivers licenses, vehicle documents and international passports.”

The World Post Day is celebrated annually as a means of drawing attention to significance of postal services across the world, as well as highlighting how they have contributed to various communities.

The event was first declared in Tokyo, Japan, at the 1969 United Postal Congress, and is celebrated on October 9 to coincide with the date the Universal Postal Union was established in 1874.

The selected theme for 2018 is: ‘Imagine you are a letter travelling through time. What message do you wish to convey to your readers?’