Nigeria's new National Digital Numeric Postcode System recorded roughly 99.8% accuracy on its launch day, according to the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), which is working to resolve cases of missing buildings and other mapping errors.

Tola Odeyemi, the Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, disclosed the figures on Friday during an appearance on TVC Breakfast News, where she was joined by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, to discuss the new system.

Odeyemi said the platform received about 987,000 postcode requests on its first day, while 1,728 users were unable to find their buildings on the system. Most complaints, she explained, involved structures absent from the underlying mapping data, which was based on a 2022 dataset and therefore did not capture some newer developments. Because the baseline predates the most recent construction, keeping the database current is an ongoing part of the rollout rather than a one-off launch task.

"We know that there's no system that's perfect," she said, adding that NIPOST had activated geographic information system (GIS) laboratories across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to help users resolve issues and update the database.

Users who cannot find their postcode can raise a ticket on the platform, Odeyemi said. While the initial resolution timeline was 48 to 72 hours, she noted that the service had improved to a four-hour turnaround as teams worked to address complaints — an early indication of how the support operation is scaling with demand.

Tijani said the system is intended to tackle long-standing difficulties in locating homes and businesses, which increase costs for delivery companies and other enterprises.

"People make fun of it, but we don't think of the cost to small businesses," the minister said, recalling how delivery riders often struggled to find customers' addresses, leading to delays, returned orders and additional expenses.

He added that a reliable addressing system could also improve emergency services, including the delivery of blood and other medical supplies, while helping government agencies plan infrastructure and public services more effectively.

Tijani also distinguished the postcode system from navigation applications such as Google Maps, explaining that the new platform provides a national addressing infrastructure rather than simply helping people navigate to locations. Framed that way, the postcode layer functions as shared reference data that delivery firms, emergency services and government planners can build on.

NIPOST said it mapped about 49 million buildings across Nigeria using data from the National Population Commission, satellite imagery and information from other government agencies. Users who cannot find their postcodes can request one through the platform, allowing missing codes to be generated and added to the database.

Odeyemi also said NIPOST to help residents who cannot access the digital platform through local post offices.

The system is expected to support deliveries, e-commerce, emergency response and government planning by giving locations more precise digital addresses. With the base mapping dating to 2022, the pace at which missing and newly built structures are added through tickets, GIS laboratories and post offices will be one early measure of how the database keeps up as usage grows.