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Using Courier Business for what it is not
Courier service as an organized professional system of receiving items, packages, messages or documents is guided by variables such as security, speed and trust.
In recent time the courier business in Nigeria has suffered credibility problem as a result of using the system for other illegal businesses other than what it is actually supposed to be.
The proliferation of players in the industry has in no small measure contributed to the nefarious activities in the industry.
In view of the proliferation and by provisions of Section 45 cap 127 Laws of the Federal republic of Nigeria 2004( December 41 of 1992) of Nigerian Postal System as amended , the federal government of Nigeria in 1981 promulgated a decree that empowered the Nigerian Postal Service (Nipost) the regulator of the postal and courier industry . This development gave birth to the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) about eight years ago. The body has been working with other government agencies to ensure that nobody brings for shipment a sheep for a ram.
The birth of CRD as the ombudsman of the sector has recorded some fit in the war to curtail the activities of illegal operators but this war cannot be said to have been won as companies that are not duly licensed by the regulatory body still wrangle their way into the business and do all sorts of dirty deals in the system. Because they don’t care if their operational licenses are withdrawn if they are implicated in any dirty deal, as they don’t have any license, illegal courier operators do their businesses with impunity. The Courier Regulatory Department has been battling to reduce their activities but as diehards, they keep on resurfacing after each successful attempt has been made by the CRD to arrest some of them. Even at that, the department has not been well positioned to battle the monster. With the lean resources at CRD’s disposal, when the body relies on Nipost for its subventions, CRD leadership has said that it lacks the capacity to combat the menace effectively and have a winning result. The body supervises the activities of courier operators nationwide and there is need that it has offices in every state of the federation for effective monitoring instead of concentrating in Lagos alone and visits other areas only when it becomes inevitable so to do.
Another dimension is that drug barons connive with their agents in courier companies to traffic in drugs through postal networks. Since security reports revealed the enormity of the post and courier serving as pipeline for fraudulent activities, Nipost re-strategised collaborating with other agencies like the Serious Organized Crime Agency (Soca) of Britain and the Postal Inspectorate Unit of the United States Postal service which led to the seizure of more than 4000 scam letters and parcels meant for shipment abroad and contained various fake international currencies running into billions of naira. The same period (October-Dec 2007), Nipost also intercepted the shipment of more than 2,500 fake international passports to various countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and others.
NDLEA collaboration has also led to the interception of hard drugs with some courier companies and it has created a specialize unit called Postal Intelligence Assignment (PIA) now known as Special Investigation assignment. Information from NDLEA revealed that between 2006 and the end of 2007, the body arrested 12,631 suspects with a total seizure of 418829.84kg of hard drugs some of which were routed through the courier companies.
The efforts of the SIA have equally nipped in the bud various attempts by internet scammers to use courier services to swindle innocent people of their hard earned money. The agency has intercepted several fake international passports, 419 documents such as fake cheques, money orders and certificates while it handed suspects over to EFCC for prosecution.
Given that NDLEA has recorded some progress in the effort, it is still faced with a lot of challenges. One of the major challenges is the inability of some courier companies to adhere to operational standards. CRD should be empowered for it to be able to enforce discipline in the industry .

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General News
Guinness Nigeria Sustains Growth Momentum in Q4 Amid Market Headwinds

Guinness Nigeria Plc has announced its unaudited financial results for the twelve months ended 30 June 2025, reporting a remarkable turnaround in performance despite a persistently challenging economic environment and an intensely competitive landscape.
The announcement comes in a landmark year for the company, as Guinness Nigeria celebrates 75 years of operations in Nigeria—a testament to the enduring strength of its brands, its people, and its commitment to brewing excellence.
In the period under review, the company delivered strong topline growth, with revenue rising by 65.8% to ₦496.6 billion, up from ₦299.5 billion in the previous year. Gross profit grew by 62.2% to ₦148.3 billion, while operating profit rose by 86.6% to ₦47.4 billion. Most notably, the company returned to profitability with a net profit after tax of ₦16.2 billion, compared to a ₦54.7 billion loss recorded in FY24.
These results reflect Guinness Nigeria’s focused execution of its strategic priorities, disciplined cost management, and the resilience of its people and portfolio.
Commenting on the performance, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, Chairman of the Board, said: “This strong turnaround speaks to the quality of leadership, clarity of vision, and strength of governance at Guinness Nigeria.
“As we mark 75 years of doing business in Nigeria, this performance underscores our long-standing resilience and commitment to value creation. The Board remains confident in the company’s long-term strategy and is committed to sustaining this momentum for our shareholders and stakeholders.”
Girish Sharma, Managing Director/CEO, added: “These results reflect our team’s focus, agility, and deep connection with our consumers. We have set a clear ambition—to be one of the best performing, most trusted, and most respected consumer products companies in Nigeria.
“That ambition is driving us to build a high-performance organisation with an entrepreneurial spirit. While the external environment remains dynamic, we are building on this momentum with confidence and purpose.”
Guinness Nigeria remains committed to delivering long-term, sustainable growth while continuing its legacy of enriching lives and communities across the country.
E-Financial
Moody’s Upgrades Ecobank’s Outlook to Stable

Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to stable from negative.
In the latest rating commentary, made available to media on Thursday, Moody’s also affirmed the pan-African banking group’s B3/Not Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings; B3 senior unsecured debt rating; b2 notional Baseline Credit Assessment and b1 Adjusted BCA.
ETI’s subsidiaries operate across 38 countries, including 35 African countries, and total assets of $28.9bn as of March 2025, details from the rating note highlighted. Moody’s said the decision to change the outlook to stable on the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings reflects ETI’s resilient financial performance.
The rating upgrade also takes into consideration higher dividends being upstreamed to ETI, resulting in lower double leverage and reduced refinancing risk.
The rating adjustment also reflects an expectation that the recapitalisation process of Ecobank Nigeria Limited will be completed by the end of 2025, with limited impact on the group’s financial fundamentals.
“The stable outlook also captures our expectation that a series of capital-boosting initiatives and actions to cure Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital position will be completed before the end of 2025”, according to the ratings agency.
In May 2025, ETI received shareholder approval to raise $250 million in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and announced the launch of the transaction effective 9 July 2025, of which a portion is expected to be downstreamed to Ecobank Nigeria as AT1 capital during Q3 2025.
Ecobank Nigeria’s plan to raise $200m in AT1 capital was noted in the rating note. The ratings analysts said they consider
“We also note that Ecobank Nigeria’s recent successful offer to tender $150m of its February 2026 $300 million notes and consent to remove the capital adequacy ratio covenant from this bond’s terms alleviates risks of an event of default in Nigeria that would trigger cross default at the ETI level. Over the past year, ETI has shown resilience in its financial performance, which supports our change in outlook to stable. Liquidity risks are being moderated by the group’s gradually improving profitability during 2024 and Q1-2025.
“This has translated into a 22 per cent increase in dividends upstreamed to ETI during 2024, these being received from 22 dividend-paying subsidiaries compared to just 14 in 2021,” the rating commentary revealed.
In turn, albeit high, ETI’s double leverage ratio, which measures the liquidity risk taken on by the holding company, as a result of it borrowing in order to invest in the equity of its subsidiaries, has eased to 168 per cent as of December 2024 from 173 per cent in 2023.
Additionally, the stable outlook reflects reduced liquidity risk at the holding company level with the refinancing of short-term liabilities in 2024 with longer-term funding.
Moody’s said this is underpinned by demonstrated market access, notably through senior unsecured notes issuance of $400m in October 2024 and a tap increase of $125m in May 2025, maturing in October 2029.
ETI’s B3 long-term issuer ratings affirmation reflects the affirmation of the group’s b2 notional BCA; the affirmation of the group’s b1 adjusted BCA as captured by a one-notch uplift for affiliate support, reflecting Moody’s assessment of a moderate probability that the firm’s major institutional shareholders would extend support to the group. Moody’s said asset quality for the group has improved over recent years.
Telecom
Airtel Africa Grew Customer Base to 169m as Q1 Revenue Hits $1.4 Billion

Airtel Africa has grown its customer base by 9.0% to 169.4 million, with data customers increasing 17.4% to 75.6 million with focus on bridging the digital divide across her markets continues. According to the telecommunications operator’s financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, which demonstrated strong growth across key metrics and a continued focus on expanding its services across its 14 African markets.
The operator reported a significant increase in revenue, reaching $1,415 million. This represents a 24.9% growth in constant currency and a 22.4% increase in reported currency, indicating a more stable macroeconomic environment in its operating regions and effective tariff adjustments, particularly in Nigeria.
The growth was broadly driven, with mobile services revenue increasing by 23.8% in constant currency. Data revenue showed exceptional performance, surging by 38.1%, while voice revenue grew by 13.9%. Mobile money services continued their strong upward trajectory, recording a 30.3% growth in constant currency. This was supported by accelerated growth in Francophone Africa (16.4% in constant currency) and continued strong performance in East Africa (20.3% in constant currency).
Airtel Africa’s profitability also saw a substantial uplift. EBITDA grew by 29.8% in reported currency to $679 million, with EBITDA margins expanding to 48.0% from 45.3% in the prior period. This margin expansion is attributed to sustained operating momentum, more stable fuel prices, and the ongoing benefits from cost efficiency programs.
Profit after tax saw a remarkable improvement, rising to $156 million compared to $31 million in the prior period. Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at 3.4 cents, a significant increase from 0.2 cents in the previous year, primarily reflecting higher operating profit in the current period and the absence of large derivative and foreign exchange losses that impacted the prior period.
Operational highlights further underscored the company’s growth. Airtel Africa’s total customer base expanded by 9.0% to 169.4 million. Data customers increased by 17.4% to 75.6 million, as the company intensified its efforts to bridge the digital divide. Mobile money customer base also grew by 16.1% to 45.8 million, with transaction value increasing by 28.7% in constant currency.
The company’s strategic focus on enhancing customer experience is supported by ongoing network investments. Over 2,300 new sites were rolled out, bringing the total to 37,579 sites, and the fiber network was expanded by 2,700 km, now exceeding 79,600 km. This investment has boosted data capacity across the region, with 4G population coverage reaching 74.7%, an increase of 3.4% year-on-year.
Airtel Africa continued its debt localization program, with almost 95% of its operating company debt (excluding lease liabilities) now in local currency, up from 86% a year ago, reducing foreign currency debt exposure. The company also confirmed it has returned $16.9 million to shareholders through its ongoing share buyback program as of June 30, 2025.
Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, said: “We are very pleased with the strong growth in our operating and financial performance in the first quarter. The strength of this performance, and the scale of the growth we achieved, reflects the sustained demand for our services and the strength of our business model to meet these demands. Operationally, the acceleration in customer base growth to 9%, and 17.4% growth in our data customers to 75.6m reflects the strong on-ground execution with a relentless focus on digitisation and the simplification of the customer experience.”
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