Digital Postcode: Homeowner Names Only Appear in Locations with Irregular Addresses, says NIPOST

Tola Odeyemi, postmaster-general/CEO of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), has explained why names appear in some property addresses captured on the federal government’s new digital postcode system.

Odeyemi said the names were included because they formed part of the standard or informal addresses collected during ground data gathering for the system.

She made the clarification in a post on X in response to TheCable’s report on information displayed by the new digital postcode application.

“During ground data collection, we collected standard or informal addresses of buildings,” Odeyemi said.

She explained that informal addresses were often recorded based on how buildings were popularly described by residents and members of the local community.

“So for informal addresses, they are often recorded as they’re popularly described by locals — owners’ names are often mentioned especially in the northern areas,” she said.

Odeyemi said names, therefore, appear only in specific locations where residents and occupants have no other commonly recognised way of describing or identifying a particular building.

“So names only appear in addresses in specific locations because there’s no other way the community and even the occupants know how to describe the house,” she added.

The clarification followed the launch of the national digital alphanumeric postcode system by NIPOST on Thursday.

The system assigns an 11-character digital postcode to addressable buildings across Nigeria and is intended to improve location identification, service delivery and access to opportunities.

TheCable reported that the application allows users to search for locations using places, postcodes and aliases and provides a digital reference for individual buildings.

The application also displays information linked to some properties, including names appearing in addresses, the status of buildings as residential or non-residential, and architectural descriptions such as bungalows or duplexes.

It also allows users to search for a homeowner’s address using their name.

In March 2026, the Federal Executive Council approved the national digital addressing policy and digital postcode system as part of Nigeria’s digital public infrastructure.

In June, the federal government began engagements with security agencies, emergency response institutions and other stakeholders on the system, with officials highlighting its potential applications in national security, public safety and service delivery.