The Federal Executive Council has approved Nigeria’s full accession to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a move government officials say will deepen international economic cooperation and unlock funding for key infrastructure projects.

The approval formalizes Nigeria’s status as a non-regional member of the China-backed multilateral lender, joining over 100 countries, including several from Europe and Africa. Nigeria received an invitation to join the AIIB in 2021 and has now completed the legal and financial obligations necessary for admission.

Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who presented the accession memo, confirmed that Nigeria subscribed to 50 shares in the institution at $100,000 per share, amounting to a $5 million equity stake. He described the membership as a step toward attracting low-interest, long-term capital for roads, power, transportation, and other public infrastructure.

“We’ve concluded that process now, and we are fully-fledged members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,” Edun told reporters. “It is set up to promote infrastructure development and sustained economic growth in all its members.”

Is It More About Access to Loans Than Reform?

Beneath the official optimism lies growing public concern that Nigeria’s real motivation is to deepen its access to external borrowing—a path that has placed a significant part of the country’s future at the mercy of creditors and undermined its ability to fund homegrown development initiatives.

Analysts and economists are already sounding the alarm. While multilateral institutions like AIIB can serve as valuable partners in infrastructure development, Nigeria’s track record with concessional loans and foreign partnerships has been checkered with failed projects, opaque procurement practices, and rising debt servicing obligations.

Against this backdrop, two of Africa’s most respected voices in international economics—Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, have both repeatedly warned that African countries must shift away from a dependency on loans and aid.

Adesina has been especially blunt, arguing that the continent is “not poor” but “impoverished by its failure to harness its wealth.” He has urged countries like Nigeria to develop their vast natural resources, rather than constantly seeking loans to finance infrastructure that does not yield returns.

Similarly, Okonjo-Iweala has cautioned against reliance on debt and aid, pushing instead for deeper investments in local industries, regional trade, and export diversification. At recent forums, both have lamented the pattern of African states, including Nigeria, taking on debt while doing little to improve domestic productivity or reduce import dependency.

“Africa really needs to change its mindset about access to aid. We should begin to see it as a thing of the past.”

“Instead of looking outward for financial support, we must strengthen our own institutions,” she urged.

The Debt Burden and Infrastructure Deficit

Nigeria’s public debt stood at approximately N144.67 trillion (US$91.46 billion) in Q1 2024. This represents a growth of 24.99% quarter-on-quarter from N97.34 trillion in Q4 2023. The Debt Management Office (DMO) reported that Nigeria’s public debt stock reached N144.67 trillion as of December 31, 2024. Thus, the country spends over 60 percent of its revenue on debt servicing, leaving little room for capital investment.

However, with Nigeria’s vast infrastructure gap, which is estimated at $100 billion annually for a decade to close, government officials argue that platforms like AIIB will help bridge that gap with concessional financing.

There’s also growing anxiety that the influx of foreign funds into infrastructure sectors dominated by Chinese and other foreign contractors has not translated into domestic capacity building or job creation.

However, the government has been touting the ongoing reforms by the Tinubu administration to address the gaps. Edun, while speaking on the sidelines of Nigeria’s recent attendance at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., said that international institutions had praised Nigeria’s macroeconomic reforms, including subsidy removal and exchange rate unification. He noted that these efforts have helped stabilize the economy despite external shocks, such as the reciprocal tariffs recently imposed by the United States.

Edun also cited a recent upgrade of Nigeria’s credit outlook by Fitch Ratings, from B- to B, as evidence that the country’s reform program is gaining traction.

However, Nigeria’s overwhelming economic downturn has made it difficult to believe the government’s assertions on its economic reforms. Economists note that Nigeria’s path forward should not be determined by access to foreign lending institutions, but by the ability to build a self-sustaining economy rooted in productivity, value addition, and export diversification.

That would mean, besides developing its vast mineral deposits, creating policies that attract local and foreign investors to process raw materials domestically.

“We need to develop our processing industries to create jobs, boost intra-continental trade, and ensure we stop exporting raw materials without value addition,” Iweala added.

The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has announced it will stop accepting cash payments across all its post offices nationwide starting July 1, 2025, in a move it says is part of a sweeping modernization effort aimed at restoring trust, enhancing transparency, and aligning with global best practices.

“All post offices nationwide will cease accepting cash. Customers will transact using approved electronic payment channels,” said Postmaster-General and CEO, Tola Odeyemi, during a media briefing on Tuesday. “This move enhances security, transparency, and aligns with global best practices.”

Odeyemi described the transition as a major milestone in NIPOST’s efforts to rebuild from years of inefficiency and public distrust.

“We are not just rebranding. We are rebuilding,” she said, adding that the agency was strengthening its engagement channels to ensure Nigerians have a voice in its transformation.

She also disclosed that a new reward and recognition system is being introduced to encourage performance among staff, alongside strict disciplinary measures to deal with conduct that undermines institutional integrity.

The Other Rot: A Culture of Theft

While the cashless payment policy is being welcomed by some Nigerians as a way to curb rampant corruption and underhand dealings involving cash at post offices, many citizens say the core rot in the institution lies deeper, specifically, in the brazen theft of packages by NIPOST staff.

Across social media platforms, Nigerians have expressed doubt that removing cash alone would improve service quality at NIPOST. Numerous customers say that staff theft remains the major scourge damaging the institution’s reputation and stifling its growth.

“Received items from the states only to go to pick it up at the post-office and realize they had stolen everything in there, kept the pack inside the box and taped it back,” a user named Francis lamented on X last month.

For years, Nigerians have shared similar stories of receiving empty boxes, tampered parcels, and missing items, even when packages were tightly sealed. In most cases, victims say there is little to no accountability or redress from NIPOST.

“Hi @tola_odeyemi I want to bring to your notice the issue of theft happening under the organization you head,” a Nigerian posted last week. “My Items sent from UK to Nigeria was tampered, items stolen, left to be eaten by rodents. I don’t just understand.”

The stories have become so frequent that many Nigerians now avoid the agency altogether when sending or receiving important parcels, choosing instead to patronize private courier services despite higher charges.

The shift to cashless operations, which may help reduce petty bribery and diversion of payments, does little to address the more damaging issue of theft, critics say. While Odeyemi emphasized discipline and performance, she gave no direct assurance that the issue of stolen goods is being actively investigated or punished.

NIPOST, which operates under the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has struggled to maintain relevance in Nigeria’s fast-growing digital and logistics space. Most of the market share in parcel delivery has been lost to nimble private courier operators, who not only deliver faster but also offer better tracking systems and security guarantees.

In 2023, Communications Minister Bosun Tijani called on Nigerians to suggest ways to reposition the agency. Some of the most popular suggestions included transforming NIPOST into a backbone infrastructure, like the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), for the logistics industry, supporting licensed courier companies in powering trade and e-commerce deliveries nationwide. Others suggested that NIPOST be deeply integrated with online shopping platforms to improve the delivery experience and credibility.

But these ideas, observers say, cannot materialize unless the trust deficit is addressed.

Stamp Duties Dispute Settled—for Now

Odeyemi also clarified NIPOST’s position in its long-running battle with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over stamp duties. She confirmed that NIPOST is not authorized to collect stamp duties, ending a legal and bureaucratic standoff that caused confusion for years.

“Our role is to provide postage stamps, the legal instruments used to authenticate documents and denote duty payment. The responsibility for collecting stamp duties lies solely with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),” she said.

The clarification brings to a close a dispute that once saw both agencies laying claim to the same revenue stream. It had led to overlapping mandates and institutional bad blood. Though the FIRS eventually retained the role, NIPOST’s previous insistence on collecting stamp duties was seen by some as a desperate attempt to stay financially viable in the face of declining relevance.

Public Skepticism Remains High

Despite the Postmaster-General’s optimistic tone and reform promises, Nigerians remain unconvinced that the institution can regain its credibility without addressing the thefts that have become synonymous with its brand.

With less than three months to the full rollout of the cashless system, stakeholders say the agency must confront the deeper cultural and operational failings that have driven customers away if it hopes to play a meaningful role in Nigeria’s logistics and e-commerce space.