ISA Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has directed the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), to stop the implementation of the new charges on courier and logistics companies immediately.

Pantami’s directive which was contained in a tweet on Saturday, came after NIPOST had announced that companies which provide international courier services like DHL, UPS and FEDEX were expected to pay N20 million for a new licence and N8 million annually.

While those offering national services were expected to pay N10 million for licence and N4 million yearly for renewal with logistics companies operating within regions expected to pay N5 million for licence and N2 million annually.

For firms operating within states, the cost of procuring a licence is N2 million while renewal costs N800,000.

In his tweet, Pantami said the increase in licence fee was not in line with the regulations he had approved requesting for the implementation to be on hold.

“Please NIPOST, our attention has been drawn to an increase of licence fee, which was not part of the regulation I earlier approved for you. Your chairman and PMG (Postmaster-General) were yesterday contacted to put the implementation on hold and send a report to our ministry by Monday. Best wishes!”.

The new charges introduced by NIPOST are expected to cause an increase in the cost of courier services and delivery goods.

For Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) the licence is N250,000 while the annual renewal of the licence is N100,000 which is a category for small courier firms which have not more than five delivery vehicles.