Milsat Powers Nigeria’s New Building-Level Postcode System

By Grace Kim

Below ₦8 billion was the reported cost of Nigeria’s national digital postcode project, according to Taslim Salaudeen, chief executive and co-founder of Milsat. He said the postcode database represents almost 50 million buildings, a figure he did not independently verify. Nigeria’s Federal Government launched the system on October 1, 2026.

Salaudeen said: “The clear answer is that we are not another addressing company. We are a location-data infrastructure company. Our job, or our holistic mission, is to unlock the location-data gap that exists in African developing countries like Nigeria.”

What does the new postcode identify?

Nigeria’s older numerical postcodes generally identified an area or district; NIPOST’s new hierarchy reaches an individual building.

• State
• Local government area (LGA)
• District
• Area
• Unit: home, house or delivery unit

Adedamola Baderinwa, who also took part in the interview, said an area can contain no more than 99 buildings and a district can contain up to 400 areas. Where fewer buildings occupy a defined space, an area may cover roughly two hectares.

For NIPOST, a unit is a standing structure where a postal worker can knock and leave a parcel. Salaudeen said three standing buildings in one compound can carry separate codes. Temporary kiosks, construction shelters and movable structures may not qualify under NIPOST’s standard delivery-unit definition.

The new postcode identifies a doorway or structure, not merely a broad part of a city.

Who built the technology and secured the contract?

Milsat was founded in 2017 to build reusable location systems, Salaudeen said. He said agencies often gathered building data on paper or in inaccessible systems. He cited census mapping, population planning, mapping rural children for vaccine delivery and delivery planning as wider uses.

Milsat began working with NIPOST near the end of 2021 after the National Population Commission recommended it for mapping work. Milsat mapped more than 65 million buildings, alongside roads and points of interest, in that earlier census effort, Salaudeen said. That figure was not a postcode count.

Salaudeen said NIPOST already had a postcode policy framework and concept. Milsat joined a joint pilot in one or two local government areas in Abuja; Salaudeen could not recall the precise areas. Milsat supplied technology, training and operational support and absorbed some costs.

The pilot let users query a postcode and associate it with a location, Salaudeen said. He called it proof of concept, while leadership changes and questions over financing and deployment complicated the national rollout.

According to Salaudeen, MID Network secured the main project contract, while Milsat supplied location-data technology and expertise. Milsat had built much of the technology before formal approval, which Salaudeen said helped the eventual rollout.

Milsat supplied the technology; MID Network secured the contract.

Can the map reflect local realities?

Nigeria’s settlement patterns complicate a uniform building map. Salaudeen described homes along rivers, cave dwellings in the East and white domes in the desert. Northern families may span several buildings and share food from one pot, breaking the assumption of one household per building.

Milsat’s field-mapping application integrates satellite imagery so teams can compare aerial features with what they see on the ground. People still verify structures and updates; the imagery does not replace fieldwork. The company’s wider tools let organisations collect, validate, distribute and govern data.

Milsat says the system pairs global addressing rules with local evidence about how people actually live.

How does the database stay current?

Buildings rise, fall and change use, so Salaudeen said residents and property owners can request or suggest corrections while government agencies submit records such as building permits. NIPOST’s postcode department reviews submissions and approves updates, with field checks where uncertainty remains.

The census mapping supplied a starting point, but new buildings have appeared since, Salaudeen said. His unverified estimate puts almost 50 million buildings in the database and makes the count a moving target.

Baderinwa said Milsat hopes the database becomes Nigeria’s richest location-information source within five years. That depends on continuous verification, Salaudeen said.

The postcode is a live database whose credibility rises or falls with each verified update.

How can people without smartphones retrieve a code?

A digital code has little value if residents cannot retrieve it. Milsat and NIPOST are considering banks, hospitals, public health centres and utilities as access points because customers may already have supplied home addresses.

They also discussed local representatives, printed lists and gazetted information for rural communities. Telecommunications networks could eventually provide codes by text or USSD without a smartphone, but Salaudeen described those options as unbuilt possibilities. He said dissemination will differ by community because connectivity and digital familiarity vary.

Public access will depend on several channels rather than an app alone.

What can businesses do with it?

Salaudeen said businesses can use building-level codes to route deliveries, improve customer-address records and connect data to precise locations. Baderinwa said companies can onboard through dashboard.postco.gov.ng: create an account, complete know-your-business verification, request API access and test in a sandbox.

Baderinwa said about 700 companies had registered when he spoke, though the figure was unverified. Larger organizations can seek extra integration support.

Milsat wants to sell the maintenance layer as well as the technology.

Salaudeen said: “Our business model is making a big enterprise or a government agency sustainable by operating their dataset.” He said the service makes client data operable and connects it to daily business uses.

The reported cost below ₦8 billion covered field equipment, software deployment and NIPOST infrastructure, Salaudeen said. He disclosed neither a spending breakdown nor Milsat’s earnings.

The payoff comes only if NIPOST keeps the database accurate, residents can retrieve codes and businesses keep integrating them. Otherwise, the launch will remain a milestone rather than the national location layer Salaudeen wants within five years.