House of Reps approves shutdown of NIPOST subsidiaries, probes N10bn restructuring fund

By Biola Adebayo On Nov 22, 2023

The House of Representatives has approved the shutting down and deregistration of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

The lawmakers on Tuesday at plenary described their activities as irregular and illegal.

This is just as the House Committee on Finance, Loans, and Debt Management ordered an investigation into the N10bn disbursed by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalization.

If a case of misappropriation is established, full recovery would be made, the lawmakers threatened.

It would be recalled that in 2021, the Federal Government unveiled plans to unbundle NIPOST into three viable subsidiary companies — a property company, a microfinance bank, as well as a transport and logistics company.

However, in the first few weeks of 2023, NIPOST workers embarked on a protest over “irregularities” in the ongoing reform/commercialization of the agency.

On Tuesday, the lawmakers also called for a comprehensive investigation of all tax waivers granted since 2015, apart from those related to the activities of Nonprofit organizations and non-governmental organizations.

This came barely two months ago, when the Chairman of the Presidential Tax Reform Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, said there were plans to review tax waivers given to companies operating in Nigeria, adding that the incentives gulped as much as N6trn per annum.

Oyedele said the incentives gulped N6 trillion every year.