The Senate has requested the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to provide detailed information on revenue generated from Stamp Duty payments.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Sen. Aliyu Wadada, made this known while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Wadada said the investigation is aimed at ensuring that the government maximises its revenue from the stamp duty, which according to him is a significant source of income for the country.
He said the committee had written to all commercial banks to furnish it with information, accompanied with figures as to how much that particular bank or collectively all the commercial banks have been able to generate from 2016 to 2024 as Stamp Duty Revenue.
He said, “It is of course, by law, expected that whatever these commercial banks put together as revenue from Stamp Duty, charged by the banks, is or are supposed to be remitted to the CBN.
“So, the committee has written to the CBN to furnish it with information, accompanied with figures as to how much has actually been remitted by these commercial banks with CBN and how much the CBN has remitted to the TSA.
“The second category is of course limited liability companies and oil and gas companies. They also charged Stamp Duty like commercial banks. The committee has also written to them.
“This committee has also written to the FIRS for it to furnish the committee with information that should also be accompanied with figures as to how much FIRS has generated on this category of Stamp Duty.”
Wadada said given the need to make the exercise all-encompassing, the committee had also written the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to also provide information on how much they have received as proceeds of Stamp Duty.
He said given the effort and commitment of President Tinubu’s administration to providing needed infrastructure, concerted efforts should be made to ensure generation of revenue and its effective utilisation for the good of Nigerians.
SOURCE: tribuneonlineng.com
