The Federal Government on Thursday launched the National Digital Alphanumeric Postcode System, a new digital addressing framework designed to tackle missed and failed deliveries and improve location identification across Nigeria.
The system was launched through the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), according to the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, in a statement posted on his official X account.
Tijani said Nigeria loses an estimated ₦50 billion to ₦80 billion annually through missed and failed deliveries linked to poor addressing.
He, however, noted that the challenge extends beyond deliveries, affecting emergency response, security operations, financial services, businesses and government planning.
“For a country to work efficiently, we need to be able to answer one very basic question. Where?” Tijani asked.
He said the ability to accurately identify locations is critical to knowing where an ambulance should respond during an emergency, where a business is located and where government should direct essential services.
Under the new system, every addressable building is assigned a unique 11-character alphanumeric postcode linked to its geographical location. The code is generated across five levels: state, local government area, district, area and building.
The postcode is assigned to the building rather than its occupant, meaning it remains associated with a property even when the people living or working there change.
The system is designed to complement existing address details by providing a standard digital reference that can be used across different platforms and services.
Tijani urged Nigerians to find their postcodes, save them and begin using them when sharing their locations.
“Every Nigerian deserves to be found. Every business deserves the chance to reach its customers. And every community deserves to be within reach of opportunity,” he said.
The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy described the initiative as a critical component of Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure. It said the system is intended to provide a unique and verifiable location identity that can strengthen public safety, security and service delivery.
The GIS-enabled system covers addressable buildings in both urban and rural communities.
Through NIPOST’s official platform, Nigerians can search for, save and share their postcodes. The platform also provides a process for requesting a postcode for buildings that have not yet been captured.
Organisations will also be able to integrate the digital postcode into their platforms and workflows, allowing different services to use a common location reference.
The Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Tola Odeyemi, previously described the initiative as a machine-readable framework for identifying addressable buildings nationwide.
“Postcode is basically a framework used to have a machine-readable standard location address for every addressable building in Nigeria,” Odeyemi said during the validation of the postcode model in June.
She also said poor addressing costs the country between N50 billion and N80 billion annually through misdeliveries.
According to the Postmaster General, the initiative goes beyond postal reform and is intended to serve as national infrastructure with applications in logistics, e-commerce, emergency response, financial services, security and public planning.
For businesses, the postcode can provide a common location reference for customer records, deliveries, e-commerce and other transactions.
Government agencies and emergency responders could also use the system to identify locations more accurately when planning services or responding to incidents.
Tijani linked the initiative to the Federal Government’s broader digital economy agenda and President Bola Tinubu’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy.
“As we work towards H.E. President @officialABAT’s ambition for a $1 trillion economy, we must build the foundations that allow more Nigerians to participate, trade and prosper,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to visit the official postcode platform, find their codes and begin sharing them with businesses, service providers, family members and others who need to locate them.
