The Unremitted Stamp Duties in Nigeria
Nigeria is just good on making laws without mechanism to ensure compliance. Today, it is stamp duty where people pay for "stamps" to send electronic transfers. It turns out Nigeria is not sure and cannot ascertain if those collecting these payments, from the citizens, are actually sending them to the national treasury. Banks are the largest entities that help in collecting stamp duties in Nigeria.
The House of Representatives has resolved to probe an alleged non-remittance of stamp duty revenue by deposit banks in the country.
The lawmakers paased the resolution after adopting a motion of urgent national importance brought before it by Goni Lawal (APC, Yobe).
The stamp duty is the tax placed on legal documents, usually in the transfer of assets or property.
The house resolution is coming months after an FOI request was sent in July 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.