•It is incredible that stamp duties are not paid into govt coffers despite cash crunch
According to the latest report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has only just exited, no matter how fragilely, the most severe economic recession she has experienced in the last two decades. The roots of the country’s slide into recession in August, 2016, could be traced to the drastic decline, in the middle of 2014, of international oil prices, a commodity on which Nigeria is dependent for 90% of her export income and 70% of national revenues.
The country’s economic predicament was worsened by resurgent militancy in the Niger Delta leading to an acute drop in crude oil production due to destruction of key oil infrastructure by militants. The resultant sharp drop in state revenues has resulted in the inability of governments at all levels to effectively discharge their responsibilities to the citizenry, including funding of infrastructure, securing lives and property, providing critical social services and alleviating poverty.
Against this background, the report that trillions of Naira due to be paid into the Federation Account from stamp duty charges on bank transactions in the country have been withheld over the last several years is most disturbing. This revelation has come into the public space as a result of the ongoing tussle between the School of Banking Honours (SBH), an Innovative Enterprise Institution (IEI) legally mandated by the Memorandum of Association (MOA) setting it up, to research into banking operations and collaborate with banks and government on banking matters, and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) on the matter.
According to the Acting Rector/Project Consultant of the SBH, Mr. Adetola Adekoya, the school had, on September 14, 2012, entered into a Masters Services Agreement with the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) to help the latter increase its internal revenue by facilitating the collection of stamp duties on banking receipts in accordance with the Stamp Duties Act, 2004. Based on the agreement with NIPOST, the SBH sought and obtained an approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on December 3, 2012, to engage deposit money banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions as collecting agents on the stamping and remittance of stamp duty on manual and electronic transfer receipts with a value of N1,000 and above to be swept into government coffers on a monthly basis.
Thus, empowered to act as the ‘official sweeping agent’ for the collection and transmission of the fund to government coffers, the SBH said it secured written commitments from three banks to lead other banks on manual stamp duty collection to actualise the objective. The SBH’s claim to copyright ownership of the initiative on stamp duty collection has been recognised by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), which issued the institution a requisite Copyright Certificate (No. LW1023) on October 15, 2015.
The SBH has alleged that the sum of N7.719 trillion accruing from stamp duty on electronic cashless transfer receipts between 2013 and 2014 has been illegally kept in the custody of the NIBSS rather than remitted into the Federation Account for the benefit of the federal and state governments. This amount represents the sum of an aggregate N160 billion realised daily from these bank transactions in just five states. According to the institute’s estimates, the unremitted stamp duty revenue has risen to approximately N20 trillion when account is taken of the amount that has accrued in this regard over the last three years.
For a country just getting out of the throes of recession and needing every kobo it can get to accelerate the rate of economic recovery and further growth, the SBH’s allegations are too serious to ignore. The appropriate authorities must urgently look into the issue with a view to unearthing the truth and recovering any due amount into the Federation Account if the SBH’s claims are found to be credible.
