N20trn stamp duty revenue is shrouded in mystery. Details of the revenues from stamp duties estimated at N20 trillion still remains opaque as the federal agencies involved in the collection have refused to provide information, despite the freedom of information (FOI) request filed by The ICIR.
A stamp duty is the tax placed on legal documents, usually in the transfer of assets or property.
The FOI request was sent on July 31 on behalf of LeaksNG to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), office of the secretary to the government of the federation (OSGF), Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) PLC.
Information requested were a report of stamp duty remittances by Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions, the current status of the stamp duty central account domiciled in the CBN, stamp duty revenue remitted to the CBN by NIBSS between 2016 and 2017, amount of revenue collected by NIPOST between 2010 and 2016 and so on.
Two months after the requests were made, on September 26, letters of reminder were sent to the various offices but none of the institutions had fulfilled its legal obligations by providing the information as of the time this report was filed.
While NIPOST and NIBSS have not bothered to respond at all, others gave excuses for their inability to oblige.
DIFFERENT REASONS, SAME CONCLUSION
Of all the five agencies that received inquiries, three responded, but sidestepped the responsibility to disclose information. The OSGF, in its reply dated August 9, 2018, said it had referred the FOI application to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which according to it is better positioned to provide answers.
“After a careful review of the application,” wrote J.O. Obule, acting legal adviser to the secretary, “the Office is of the view that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has a greater interest and is the custodian of the information sought and therefore would be in a better position to provide same.”
“Please be informed that your application has been referred to the FIRS accordingly and you are advised to deal with it directly.”
FIRS would later shift responsibility to Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
In a letter dated November 5 and signed by Ike Odume, FIRS director of legal services, the agency wrote: “The Legal Service Department of the FIRS received a letter from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting dated 26th September 2018 requesting for details for Stamp Duties recovered from NIPOST. We regret to inform you that FIRS does not collect Stamp Duties from NIPOST.
“Therefore we ask that the above request be directed to NIPOST.”
NIPOST is yet to respond to similar inquiries.
The CBN replied on November 6 and, in the letter signed by R.J. Monguno of the corporate secretariat, the bank said it could not provide the information sought as the matter is the subject “of a suit before the Supreme Court of Nigeria and is therefore subjudice”.
The court action referenced in this letter is yet unclear.
SECRECY, ‘FRAUD’ MAR NIGERIA’S POTENTIAL GOLDMINE
The status of unremitted revenue from stamp duties said to have run into several trillions of naira over the years, has been shrouded in secrecy.
In November 2017, the Senate kick-started a probe into the allegation that stamp duties revenue which accumulated over a period of five years and is valued at over N20 trillion has not been paid into the federation account.
Following a motion raised by John Owan Enoh, senator representing Cross River central, the committees on finance and banking, insurance and other financial institutions were instructed to investigate the scandal and report back within a period of eight weeks.
The School of Banking Honours (SBH) is the consultancy agent authorised in October 2017 by the federal government, alongside the International Investment Law and Arbitration, to recover stamp duty revenue that has not been remitted.
It raised alarm in March that the NIBSS had been uncooperative so far in SBH’s efforts to recover unremitted stamp duty revenue of about $53.3 billion (N19.4 trillion) borne out of inter-bank electronic transactions.
According to Tola Adekoya, SBH’s project consultant and chief executive officer, N7.719 trillion was due in 2015 as accumulated yet unremitted revenue to the federal and state governments. In total, he said, the funds are about N20 trillion, out of which not up to one percent has been remitted appropriately.
He also said the presidency, through the office of the secretary to the government, had ordered the CBN to cooperate with SBH in implementing its mandate. However, NIBSS has refused on multiple occasions to grant access to data of relevant inter-bank transactions that passed through its central switch.
“We served the demand notice because NIBSS is the agent of banks that handles their transactions,” Adekoya said.
“Banks don’t have any power over NIBSS, once they ascertain a liability, they debit the banks immediately and that is why NIBSS is going to be a strategic partner in recovering the unremitted stamp duty revenue. It was indicated in the first paragraph of the letter sent to CBN and NIBSS that we should commence with NIBSS and that is what we are doing. We are following due process.”
According to its website, the NIBSS “was incorporated in 1993 and is owned by all licensed banks including the CBN.” It manages inter-bank payments so as to remove bottlenecks characteristic of fund transfers and operates the Nigeria Automated Clearing System (NACS).
The NIBSS board “is composed of the Deputy Governor (Operations) of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the Chairman, representatives of Banks as Directors, Executive Directors and the Managing Director/CEO, who heads Executive Management group of the organisation”.
In October 2017, the house of representatives committee on telecommunications, summoned Kemi Adeosun, former finance minister, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, and Adebisi Adegbuyi, post-master general of NIPOST, to provide explanations on why billions generated from stamp duty charges were kept in commercial banks and the CBN.
The committee’s resolution was triggered by the revelations by Zhigun Usman, who is NIPOST’s director of finance and investment, who said N13.4 billion had been deposited to the CBN by commercial banks. 
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