On the 13th December 2018, at the Banquet Hall of Rivers State Government House, in front of many dignitaries from Local Government and Nipost, there was a ceremony to launch the issue of stamps commemorating the Golden Anniversary of the creation of the Rivers State.
This area is of significance to collectors of Nigerian stamps, as it covers much of the area represented by the stamps issued by the Oil Rivers Protectorate and the Niger Coast Protectorate prior to 1900.
The modern day state was created in 1967. Which begs the question, why was the commemoration taking part 51 years later, and not in 2017?
It is fair to state that there has been a long saga to get these stamps released. The original date planned was indeed 2017, but internal politics and stamp design issues appeared to get in the way.
Part of the story can be told by the First Day covers issued as part of the release. The formal launch of the stamps was in fact planned for 29th May 2018. The venue had been selected, and guests invited. However for reasons not entirely clear, the launch was called off with 48 hours to go. However a small number of First Day Covers were released dated 29th May 2018.
Eventually a second launch date was set for December 6th 2018. Fresh First Day covers were prepared, with the envelopes reprinted, and 6th December postmark applied. Once again the launch was postponed, this time scheduled for the week after.
There was no time to reprint the envelopes for this date, although the postmark of 13th December was applied. Some covers had the date on the envelope changed by pen, others didn’t.
As for the stamps themselves, when they first appeared in May, the quality was terrible, both in printing and perforations. They had the appearance of rough proofs. In the past Nigeria has had “pre-release” stamps for launches, and for use on First Day covers (Eg the non-Hologram versions of the 50th Anniversary of University of Nigeriain 2015), and it could be assumed that these had been rushed for the launch.
However when they reappeared for the December releases, they were the same poor examples.
After a few months, the initial stock was exhausted, and later printings had proper perforations.
The stamps are printed by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Co. Ltd, for the first time for several years, and it appears they have forgotten how to print stamps. This includes their approach to the miniature sheet.
The miniature sheet is anything but miniature. It is A4 size, and includes supersized stamp designs within the overall design. However the first attempt, which was rejected by Nipost, was even stranger. The first design for the miniature sheet consisted of individual postcard size version of each stamp (example blow).
