The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has ordered the Nigerian Postal Services NIPOST to suspend the new tariff on registration of courier services in the country.
Reacting to complaints by Nigerians on the new hike, Pantami, under whose purview the supervision of NIPOST falls, took to his Twitter handle to reiterate the position of the Federal Government on the increment.
According to a statement by his Spokesperson, Mrs Uwa Suleiman, the Minister said his attention was drawn to an increase of license fees, which was not part of the regulation earlier approved for the agency.
With this directive, he said that the Chairman of NIPOST and the Post Master General had been contacted to put the implementation on hold and send a report to the Ministry by Monday.
The Minister further buttressed that “the power of regulation of NIPOST lies with the Minister, insisting that any change of fees must be approved by him if the need be.
Pantami, who acknowledged the financial contain facing Nipost noted that he took the decision in view of economic hardship Nigerians ate going through.
“I know the economic challenges of NIPOST. However, looking at the economic hardship of our citizens, we need to suspend any move,” he said.
The statement, however, stated that the directive came amidst ongoing efforts by the Minister to reposition the Postal Services sector for optimal efficiency, in line with global best practices and as enshrined in the Universal Postal Union (UPU)global resolution of September 2019.