By Musa Baba Adamu
The Senate yesterday through its committee on Public Accounts , requested from Commercial Banks , Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) and the Governors ‘ forum , records of accruing revenues made from stamp duty charges between 2016 – 2024.
The requests as declared by the Chairman of the Committee , Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu ( Nasarawa West), while briefing journalists covering the Senate , are expected to be met by all the affected agencies by 25th of this month.
He said requests for records of accrued revenue from stamp duty by the affected agencies , were made to help the federal government monitor revenue generated from stamp duty and how such revenues are managed or expended .
“ It is of course, one thing to be able to generate revenue, and it is a different ballgame for the revenue to be judiciously put together and effectively utilized.
“ It is in the light of that that this committee thought it wise to look at the profile of revenue as regards to stamp duty in the country.
“As a result of that, this committee has written all commercial banks to furnish it with information that will be accompanied with figures as to how much that particular bank or collectively all the commercial banks have been able to generate from 2016 to 2024.
“ The committee has also written to the Central Bank of Nigeria to furnish it with information accompanied with figures as to how much has actually been remitted by these commercial banks and how much has Central Bank remitted to the TSA”, he said.
He added that companies and the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), are also written to , for similar information.
“This committee has also written the Federal Inland Revenue Service for it to furnish it with information that should also be accompanied with figures as to how much it has generated on this category of stamp duty.
“ For this exercise to be all-inclusive and all-encompassing. The committee has also written the Nigerian Governors Forum specifically to the chairman of the forum , Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasak of Kwara State through its secretariat, to also furnish this committee with how much they have received as proceeds of stamp duty.
“This is all geared towards knowing what is where, and how effective it should be utilized”, he said .
According to him , information available to the committee, indicates that humongous amount of money has been realized as accrued revenue from stamp duty by the affected agencies which requires the legislature to look into for proper utilization .
“We have information about all these agencies, but we’re keeping it to ourselves for now. and there is a time frame which is the 25th of this month “,:he added .
