Nigeria: NIPOST Intercepts 159 Scam Mails Worth N13.7 Billion in Nine Months

NIPOST Post Master General, Mori Baba

Some 159 scam letters containing counterfeit financial instruments and prohibited items were intercepted between January and September, this year, by the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), a top official of the agency has said.

Malam Ibrahim Mori Baba, the NIPOST Post Master General (PMG), said yesterday in Abuja at this year's World Post Day celebration that his officials were able to intercept the scam mails as a result of their rigorous physical inspection of all documents/postal packets transmitted through NIPOST since the beginning of the year.

In January, 17 dubious mails, worth N149.8million, were intercepted while 66 scam mails with monetary value of N8.4m were intercepted in February, according to Baba.

In March, he said, 18 scam mails worth N159.6m were stopped while 26 mails worth N118.3m were stopped in May.

32 (worth N11.5m), 4 (N673, 000), 4(N230, 000) and 2 (N756, 0000) scam mails were seized in June, July, August and September respectively, according to the PMG.

However, April was a scam mail free month for NIPOST, said Baba, who expressed happiness with the significant reduction in the number of scam mails sent through NIPOST.

He said: "In 2012, 45, 571 scam letters with monetary value of N13.74bn were stopped."

He claimed that the use of NIPOST as a conduit for transmission of drugs, illegal arms and ammunitions now became a thing of the past.

While noting that the courier industry was facing a business challenge, he said that NIPOST has made a number of innovations to stay ahead of its rivals.

He said: "IT systems for tracking and tracing of mail processing, mainly in domestic operations, have been supplied to all major post offices across Nigeria."

He revealed that NIPOST and the Central Bank of Nigeria were working together to provide financial services through post offices.

Despite the security challenges, he said, NIPOST was able to handle 24, 213, 750 mail items between January and June as against 19, 688,220 handled in 2013.

"Of the total traffic handled, 16, 144, 778 items were posted within the country whereas 1,132, 715 were dispatched abroad. While 6, 936, 257 were received from abroad."

He said the agency was working to revive the letter writing culture in the country, especially among primary and secondary schools students.