The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has faulted claims by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) that NIPOST operated an illegal stamp duty account.
The FIRS’s Director of Communication and Liaison recently, while responding to tweets by Chairperson of the Board of NIPOST, Mrs. Maimuna Abubakar, said that the agency is more than ever “determined to not only ensure that all monies collected by NIPOST into its illegally operated Stamp Duties Account are fully remitted into the Federation Account” but also make sure that any kobo not accounted for in that account is legally recovered in line with the charge of President Muhammadu Buhari to the recently inaugurated Inter-ministerial committee on the recovery of stamp duties from 2016 till date.
But NIPOST’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Franklin Alao, described the FIRS claims as false.
Alao explained in a statement in Abuja that the account in question was opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in consultation with the office of Accountant General of the Federation, in the name of NIPOST Stamp Duties Collection Account when CBN gave instruction to Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to commence the deduction of N50 stamp duties from bank customers accounts.
He stated that the account belongs to the Nigeran Government, adding that NIPOST does not have access to whatsoever monies lodged into the account, as such the question of illegality and misappropriation does not arise.
Alao insisted that under the extant laws of Nigeria, NIPOST Act 2004 provides and vest solely in NIPOST the power to print adhesive postage stamps, which is the instrument for denoting documents and other transaction instruments in compliance with the provisions of the Stamp Duties Act.
“Historically, the Post in Nigeria, just like in the comity of nations, has at different times produced adhesive postage stamps and revenue stamps for the Federal Government,” Alao said.