The Fights on Stamp Duty in Nigeria
When a National Assembly fights with the Executive, you can understand the power of stamps. Yes, stamp duty. How do you pay consultants N1.5 trillion to recover over N20 trillion? I am happy that one did not go through. Yet, stamp duty is largely paid via banks. How can it be lost and untraceable when it is hosted digitally? The idea that someone has to pay someone to recover it does not inspire?
“Soon after, a non-government organization posited to the administration that the Nigerian government had lost the sum of over N20 trillion to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System between 2013-2016 in this regard, claiming that the said sum could be recovered and paid back into the government coffers.
“The consultants asked to be paid a professional fee of 7.5 percent and were placed under the supervision of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF. Following the lack of progress in the promised recovery, the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari wrote on March 8, 2018 to the SGF conveying a presidential directive that following the lack of progress and several expressed concerns received, the activities of the consultants be discontinued.” Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. (source)
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You understand the fears? If they cannot even trace stamp duty which is electronically deducted from customer bank accounts, how can the nation reconcile other things. Nigeria needs to do better; indeed, all of us must step forward and save this nation. We're underperforming as a people across the board. They talk about digitalization, cashless policy, etc and you will think those can even help the same people postulating. But here, a fee collected electronically in bank servers cannot be traced - and the legislative and executive arms of a government are fighting.
They are just creating news headlines for talking points, by the time the people spend plenty energy contesting the figures being bandied around, then you will hear that no such money is missing.
What happened to the NDDC famous 'off the mic' public spectacle, have they traced and retrieved the missing funds? These are perpetual jokers.
If you need a consultant to trace money sent electronically, which you weren't even aware was missing, what else do we need before we are convinced that we are finished as a people? Everything seems strange in this geographic space called Nigeria.
But let's not get distracted, the withdrawal limits set by the CBN should remain so until after the elections, then we can entertain more debates and squabbles.
Funny creatures everywhere.
