Unremitted stamp duty revenue
At a time of dwindling government revenues it is simply scandalous that trillions of naira from stamp duties is lost annually to non-remittance of same to the Federation Account. The alert over this was raised by the School of Banking Honours (SBH) which claims that as much as N7 trillion was due for remittance to […]
At a time of dwindling government revenues it is simply scandalous that trillions of naira from stamp duties is lost annually to non-remittance of same to the Federation Account. The alert over this was raised by the School of Banking Honours (SBH) which claims that as much as N7 trillion was due for remittance to the federation account as far back as 2015. By the same reckoning of the SBH the present quantum of non-remitted funds is about N20 trillion out of which less than one percent is remitted to the government. SBH is spearheading the recovery of the missing trillions of stamp duty revenue from electronic cashless transactions by Nigerians which yielded over N160 billion daily from transactions in just five states of the federation in 2013, as reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
SBH’s efforts have reportedly pitched it against the Nigerian Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in a war of wits, traceable to the systemic diversion of huge revenue flows from stamp duty collections on the online bank transaction. According to SBH’s Project Consultant and Chief Executive Officer Mr Tola Adekoya, his agency had on the basis of research findings raised a demand notice dated March 10th 2015 to NIBSS and titled “Stamp Duties on Electronic Transfer Receipts (2013-2014), for N7.719 trillion as accruing and unremitted revenue to the Federal Government and the states. Noteworthy is the fact that NIBSS is yet to acquit itself with the query from SBH, thereby leaving the matter of unremitted stamp duty revenue an open sore.
By its Memorandum of Association SBH is approved through registration by the Nigeria Copyright Commission to research into banking operations and facilitate collaboration between banks and the government. Also within the context of its mandate, it is empowered to represent the government in facilitating the imposition and monitoring of stamp duty on all electronic cash transactions. This is where the issue between SBH and NIBSS originated as the later has not remitted any stamp duty revenue to the government since 1993.
Seen in context, SBH is unearthing perhaps the biggest case of fraud in the history of the Nigerian banking sector, with a drain on the public purse of trillions of naira annually. While this development justifies commendation for SBH for its sense of patriotism, it also makes it mandatory for the government to wade into the matter with all the seriousness it deserves. In the circumstance no stone should be left unturned in unravelling the entire details of the nefarious practice by the offending banks and their co travellers in crime to fleece the country of the much needed funds for powering development. While the government has been after public officials who embezzled public funds, the theft of stamp duty revenue dwarfs whatever may have been stolen by the former.
The stamp duty fraud is even more significant as it had all along been concealed from public view until the patriotic enterprise by SBH saved the situation. The case now deserves the full weight of the law as such applies to matters of criminal diversion of public funds into private pockets. The matter is not expected to offer the authorities much challenge in getting to terms with the perpetrators nor the destination of the stolen funds since the lucre passed through the banking sector. Nothing less than a clinical termination of this fraudulent practice is expected by Nigerians.
In this exercise the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) either as a collaborator, spectator or complacent bystander should be ascertained and all necessary reprisals applied to all those involved. To recover all missing stamp duty revenue is a task that must be done.