CBN recovers over N35bn as lawmakers begin probe of stamp duty

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed it has recovered over N35 billion from commercial banks, being part of the reported N20 trillion stamp duty funds that were unremitted.

The CBN Acting Director of Banking Services, Mallam Abubakar Kure, disclosed this while he appeared before the House of Representatives Adhoc committee probing the non-remittances of N20trn stamp duty incomes from 2010 to date.

According to the CBN Acting Director, the apex bank has recovered the sum of N35.2bn between February 2016 and now. However, the sum has not been remitted to the Federation Account on behalf of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

While reacting to the reason for non-remittance of the recovered stamp duty funds, Kure explained that the CBN has not been authorised to move funds to customers’ accounts.

Kure explained that the CBN is aware of litigation pending at the Supreme Court. Specifically, he noted that the litigation in court prevents the movement of the recovered funds into the Federation Account, stressing that after pending court litigation, funds will be remitted on the instruction of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

In 2017, the Nigeria Senate mandated its committee on finance and banking, insurance, and other financial institutions to investigate alleged N7 trillion non-remittance of stamp duty revenue in the last five years.

The committee was constituted following the report that the agencies refused to disclose details of the stamp duty revenue whose status has been shrouded in secrecy over the years.

The CBN representative explained that there was a circular in 2016 asking banks to remit all charges collected from stamp duties and that commercial banks have complied as they wouldn’t have violated such a directive that would attract stiff penalties to them.

Similarly, the NIBSS Secretary, Oladele Agboola, stated that the organisation was engaged with the mandate of assisting with the weekly collation of stamp duty charges deducted from account holders in commercial banks from March 2017. However, contrary to the figured recovered by the CBN, NIBSS claimed to have recovered N35bn.

Controversies still surround the huge unremitted stamp duty fund which has been revealed to be around N20 trillion. Earlier, Nairametrics revealed that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has perfected plans to embark on a nationwide probe of banks over the non-remittance of stamp duties which is now in the tune of N100 billion.

While the probe is expected to bite hard on defaulting banks, cutting sharp practices in the banking sector will aid in tightening leakages in order to recover Stamp Duty revenue which will reduce the budget deficit financing in Nigeria.