N43b stamp duty cash with CBN, says Fed Govt – TheNigerialawyer

FORTY-THREE billion naira collected as Stamp Duties on domestic
transactions by Nigerians is being kept with the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN), Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister Mrs.
Zainab Ahmed said on Wednesday.

The minister, who briefed reporters after the weekly Federal
Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, said her Ministry sought
approval for a project to manage duties waivers through an
electronic portal.

On Tuesday, the Senate mandated its Committee on Finance to
investigate why the N20 trillion collected by banks and other
financial institutions as stamp duty revenue from 2013 to 2016 was
not remitted to the Federation Account.

But, Mrs. Ahmed, in the company of the Minister of Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and the Minister of State for Health,
Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, spoke of the stamp duty revenue.

She explained that the Stamp Duties collected by commercial
banks had to be warehoused at the CBN due to the legal battle over
the custody of the fund between the Nigerian Postal Service (NPS)
and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The minister, however, noted that the Finance Act recently
passed by the National Assembly has rested the argument over who
should be the custodian of the fund.

According to her, the amended Act has given the right to the
FIRS.

Mrs. Ahmed said: “The stamp duties, up till now, have been a
subject of litigation between the Nigerian Postal Service and
Federal Inland Revenue Service. So, while the banks when you make
any transfer charge you N50, these revenues were not accruing to
government.

“I don’t have the facts that there will some funds being held by
the commercial banks as well. The CBN has itself said that they are
in holding of about N43 billion now, but in the new Finance Act
recently passed by the two houses of the National Assembly, there
is an amendment that is made to the Stamp Duties Act that relates
to the mode of collection.

“The Finance Bill has made the FIRS as the collecting agency.
So, that addresses the issue of the litigation. So, going forward,
the revenue should be remitted as they are being collected, unlike
what has happened in the past that the funds were kept in a special
account because of the litigation that is going on.”

On the approval sought for the project, which is designed to
manage an automated platform for the issuance of import duties
exemption certificates as well as vehicle identification and
registration number, the minister said the project would be run as
a public/private partnership.

The minister said: “The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and
National Planning is responsible for the country’s national finance
and one of our responsibilities is implementing fiscal incentives
that are used to attract investors to promote non-oil exports as
well as encourage industrialisation programme and stimulate growth
in the economy.

“This portal will be managed by both the ministry as well as the
Nigeria Custom Service. The vehicle identification number will be
available to any user to access to find out information on
vehicles.

“On our part, on the IDEC component, we will be able to see how
much waivers have been granted to which sectors and also track the
performers of those waivers and reduce the cost subsequently.

“The portal is undertaken in the form of a PPP between the
Ministry of Finance and Messrs. Fore-core Technology Solutions
Limited. They are to develop, deploy, manage and transferred back
to the ministry. They are to be earning revenue, which is coming
from IDEC application fee.

“We are going to share the revenue in the promotion of 90
percent to the government and 10 percent of Messrs. Forcore
Technology Solutions limited. They are earning 10 per cent to
enable recover the cost of deployment as well as the management
because they will also be the ones managing the project over this
10 year period.”

Fashola said the Federal Government approved N40.4 billion for
the construction of two roads in Kano and Bauchi states.

The minister identified the projects as part of the 2019 budget,
adding that the variations for the contracts were also approved. He
said the conflicts on two road contracts in Oyo and Ogun states
have been sorted out.

Fashola said: “There are two of our contractors working in
contiguous locations on the Ijebu-Igbo – Olomi road toward the Oyo
State border which is in Ogun State, and also the
Ijebu-Igbo/Ita-Igba – Owonowe to Ibadan connecting Oyo and Ogun
states. So, Council approved the revision of the scope of work
between the two contractors at the existing contract price.

“The other was the approval of two roads – the Tagwai- Kansa
road to Doguwa in Kano for N8.436 billion and Alkaleri to Situk
Road in Bauchi State for N32.015 billion. These are roads that we
have in the 2019 budget. So, this is part of the implementation of
the 2019 budget before the end of the year. Council also approved
the variation.”

The Council also approved N307.9 million for the acquisition of
15 operational vehicles for the National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Senator Mamora said.

“The approval was given by the council at the meeting today,
contract under the Ministry of Health for the purchase of 15
operational vehicles by NAFDAC at the cost of N307.562 million
which essentially are meant to improve mobility,” the minister of
State for Health said.