The Federal Government has launched a new National Digital Alphanumeric Postcode System designed to give every addressable building in Nigeria a unique digital identity.
Launched through the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) on Thursday, the system is expected to improve emergency response, security, commerce and public service delivery while addressing economic losses associated with Nigeria’s poor addressing system.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, announced the launch in a post on his official X account, saying the country loses an estimated N50 billion to N80 billion annually through missed and failed deliveries resulting from inadequate addressing.
Tijani, however, said the challenge extends beyond postal and delivery services, 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?” the minister said.
He explained that the ability to accurately identify locations could determine where an ambulance is dispatched during an emergency, where a business is situated and where government directs critical infrastructure and public services.
Under the new system, each addressable building is assigned a unique 11-character alphanumeric postcode linked to its geographical location.
The code is generated through five levels: state, local government area, district, area and building.
Unlike an identity linked to an individual, the digital postcode belongs to the building.
It therefore remains associated with the property even when occupants change.
NIPOST said the system is intended to complement existing conventional addresses rather than simply replace them, providing a standard digital reference that can be used across multiple platforms and services.
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Tola Odeyemi, had described the initiative as a machine-readable framework for identifying addressable buildings nationwide during the validation of the postcode model in June.
“Postcode is basically a framework used to have a machine-readable standard location address for every addressable building in Nigeria,” Odeyemi said.
She also disclosed that poor addressing costs the country between N50 billion and N80 billion annually through misdeliveries.
According to NIPOST, the digital postcode is designed as national infrastructure with applications extending to logistics, e-commerce, emergency response, financial services, security and public planning.
Businesses can use the postcode as a common location reference for customer records, deliveries, e-commerce transactions and other services, while government agencies and emergency responders can use it to identify locations more accurately.
The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy described the initiative as a critical component of Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure, aimed at providing a unique and verifiable location identity capable of strengthening public safety, security and service delivery.
The system is GIS-enabled and covers addressable buildings in both urban and rural communities.
NIPOST’s official platform allows Nigerians to search for, save and share their postcodes.
It also provides a process for requesting a postcode where a building has not yet been captured.
Organisations will be able to integrate the digital postcode into their platforms and workflows, creating a common location reference for different services.
Tijani urged Nigerians to find their postcodes, save them and begin using them when sharing their locations with businesses, service providers, family members and others.
“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 minister linked the initiative to President Bola Tinubu’s wider digital economy agenda and the Federal Government’s ambition of building 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,” Tijani said.
Nigerians have been directed to postcode.gov.ng to search for their digital postcodes and begin using them for location-sharing and service delivery.
