A joint African stamp release to commemorate the commissioning of the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) Tower, Arusha, Tanzania was released 3rd September.
For Nigeria, it was the first stamp release of 2023, and consists of a single value of N250, but with N5 surcharge. This surcharge is to be used for projects initiated by PAPU.
The stamp design features a picture of the newly constructed Tower, with Zuma Rock, Abuja in the background.
The stamps are printed in sheets of 50 by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Plc.
In addition to the stamp there is a Miniature Sheet (with traditional format of a block of perforated stamps, unlike many of their recent sheets), and a First Day Cover.
Unlike many of the recent stamp releases, this one appeared to go ahead as planned, and was supported by a presentation in the capital, Abuja.
As an innovative step, the ceremony was conducted online too, via Zoom, to allow people from around the globe take part.
So, all in all a seamless and well organised launch, NIPOST seemed to have learnt lessons from previous new releases and made a success of this.
However, there was one small hiccup, a typo on the released Miniature Sheet, but that’s the type of thing that makes collecting modern Nigerian stamps more interesting than other countries!
A beautiful stamp but just a single release.
Eddy