The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has revealed that the total revenue collected as stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government in 6 years, between 2016 and 2022, is N370.686 billion.
The clarification became necessary following allegations by a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammed Kazaure, who raised an alarm in 2022, claiming that a humongous sum of N89 trillion collected as stamp duty has been allegedly stolen.
The declaration was made by Emefiele on Tuesday in Abuja after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting where he maintained that the CBN was not withholding any N89 trillion by collecting N370.686 billion.
What the CBN Governor is saying
Emefiele said, “Total assets of all banks are N71 trillion; total deposit in banks is N44 trillion.
“From 2016 till date, stamp duty collection has amounted to N370,686 billion.
“The Federal Inland Revenue Service has disbursed N226.451 billion of the money to the Federation Account Allocation Committee, while the balance of N144,235 is in the CBN.
“The highest collection of the stamp is N71 billion, collected by First Bank.’’
CBN appoints 4 audit firms to investigate unremitted stamp duty
The apex bank boss also pointed out that the CBN had appointed 4 world-class audit firms to go into the books of banks to verify if there was any unremitted stamp duty.
He assured, “If there is any uncollected stamp duty, the banks will pay to the last kobo.’’
In case you missed it
Recall that sometime last year, a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammed Kazaure, representing Kazaure Roni, Gwiwa, Yankwashi federal constituency of Jigawa state, alleged that N89.09 trillion purportedly realized from deductions by banks as stamp duty charges had been diverted.
The lawmaker also alleged that the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele kept another $171 billion in the bank’s private investors’ account as proceeds of stamp duty.
However, the presidency dismissed the allegations of misappropriation of Stamp Duty funds leveled against some government agencies, describing it as baseless and misleading.
Also, the CBN, described the allegations as shocking and unfounded as the total assets of the entire banking industry were less than the amount being taunted.
Following the controversy generated by the allegation, President Muhamadu Buhari was reported to have in June constituted a presidential committee on the recovery of stamp duty from 2015 to date.
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