NIPOST Trains Staff on Agent Banking, Payment Services, Others

The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) in collaboration with Stanbic IBTC Bank and Ekode Mega Touch, has commenced the training of its staff on financial services in the areas of agent banking, payment services, remittance, e-governance, and others.

Speaking during the training exercise in Benin City, NIPOST Postmaster-General/CEO, Miss Tola Odeyemi, said the training was to equip the staff with the requisite knowledge to drive the financial services of the agency.

She said: “NIPOST has a lot of opportunities, infrastructure, and privileges, but lacks the resources to put them to maximum use.

“We are partnering with Stanbic IBTC Bank and Ekode, who would be bringing in the resources to develop our infrastructure into maximum use for the benefit of NIPOST and the nation.

“NIPOST is a key player in the ICT industry because of its infrastructure and finance licence from the Central Bank.

“But to develop and deploy the technology and resources required to actualize this, we have partnered with Stanbic IBTC and Ekode for the funding and technology to drive the project.”

Represented by Engr. Musa Suleman, Director of Engineering and Technical Service, the postmaster-general said NIPOST wanted to make banking services available to Nigerians with minimal stress as well as capture everybody into the financial net because of its spread across the country.

“For us to succeed as a key player in financial services, our staff must have the requisite knowledge about the process, and that is the essence of this training in Benin.

“A similar training is ongoing in our Kaduna institute for northern staff,” he stated.

On his part, Dr Nuhu Ocheni, NIPOST’s general manager of Financial Services, said the partnership was about agent banking, payment services, remittances (domestic and international), as well as e-government.

“The training is for heads of NIPOST financial service, fund managers, and tellers, as well as state postal managers who are to drive the programme for NIPOST to succeed”, he said.

Ocheni called on the participants to fully participate in the training, as they would in turn train others to actualize the project that would yield revenue for NIPOST and the federal government.

Also speaking, Stanbic IBTC Bank’s Agent Manager, Bright Odigie, said they were partnering with NIPOST for their financial services by providing POS terminals to all NIPOST branches across the country.

“With the terminals, NIPOST would be able to carry out their transactions such as making deposits, withdrawals, cash transfers, and payment of bills.

The platform would help NIPOST generate income”, he said.

Odigie pointed out that the training would focus on how to operate the terminals, as well as educate them on the benefits of using the terminals.