By James Emejo in Abuja
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) yesterday indicated its resolve to probe commercial banks over stamp duty collections.
The commission spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, in a statement said the investigation which is to commence soon would involve a forensic investigation of the funds, which had so far been collected as stamp duty by 22 Deposit Money Banks (DMB) from 2000 to 2018.
He said RMAFC is the only constitutional body vested with the powers to monitor all revenue accruals into the federation account.
According to him, commercial banks had been deducting the sum of N50 on every deposit with a value of N1,000 and above since January 2000.
He said at the moment, the total sum of N33 billion had been realised through the collection of stamp duties which falls far below the expectation of stakeholders.
“It is expected that at the end of the exercise, over 100 billion would be recovered,” he added.
According to Ibrahim, Athena commission had concluded arrangement to engage the services of reputable forensic audit firms to carry out the probe of the banks.
The probe will be comprehensive as it will cover the affixed stamp used on cheque books prior to the introduction of electronic transactions.
According to the statement, which was made available to THISDAY, the commission further observed that if NIPOST is properly repositioned through appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the introduction of appropriate technology, the agency could generate over N500 billion.
“Therefore, the commission is using this medium to appeal to the National Assembly and the federal government to initiate measures for the amendment of the NIPOST Act to enable it expand the economy and attract more revenue to the federation.
“In a similar development, RMAFC had also embarked on the reconciliation exercise of signature bonuses and other miscellaneous revenues from the oil and gas industry to enable the commission engage other stakeholders with a view to reducing revenue leakages and enhance remittance into the Federation Account.
“The commission therefore seeks the support of stakeholders especially the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable it succeed on the exercise,” it noted.
