From Uche Usim, Abuja
The dust raised over the alleged disappearance of N89.09 trillion stamp duty accruals is yet to settle as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Presidency are one side, while a member of House of Representatives, Mr Muhammadu Gudaji Kazaure and a disbanded presidential committee, are one the other side of the divide.
When the issue landed in the public court penultimate week as alleged by Kazaure, tongues wagged as to how such a humongous sum could be allegedly siphoned through the commercial banks in a developing economy like Nigeria where banks’ total assets are about N63 trillion.
Coincidentally, the disclosure was made at a time the CBN was implementing its 10-year old cashless policy blueprint, which came with naira redesign and cash restriction rules that was vehemently opposed by some sections of the government, especially the national assembly.
Many wondered how the Federal Government would fold its arm and let such funds land in private pockets when it was neck-deep in debt and battling a revenue challenge that has stalled several developmental projects.
Nonetheless, Kazaure claimed he was in possession of documents that prove the existence of such money that was realised from the collection of N50 Stamp Duty and bank charges from all transactions valued above N2,000 between 2017 and 2020. He asked the apex bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele to explain how the money developed wings and flew out of its coffers.
Kazaure further accused the leadership of the apex bank of also not remitting to the Federal Government collections from stamp duties on all cheques sent to the CBN for clearing between 1993 and 2012, among other allegations.
He said it was also discovered that the CBN was charging another N100 from every transaction above N5,000, the proceeds of which were going into private accounts, with the apex bank and the 27 commercial banks in the country sharing in the ratio 60:40.
The stamp duty collections by the banks, he alleged, were transferred to some accounts through Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and into the Importers and Exporters (I&E) Window account on foreign exchange for the investors.dr FX market had hit $171bn billion.
The lawmaker said based on his close relationship with President Muhamadu Buhari, he was able to convince him to approve the constitution of a Presidential committee to investigate and recover the missing stamp duty funds in the country.
He said the President gave him and other member of the Committee full powers to investigate, arrest and detain anybody, including the CBN Governor, who attempts to frustrate the work of the committee charged with the responsibility of investigating, reconciling and recovering stamp duty revenues and bank charges collections from 2015 to date.
He listed the seven-member committee he personally selected to include the owner of the SBHR, Adekoya as Chairman; Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Director General of State Security Service, Yusuf Magaji Bichi; a former Deputy DG National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Emmanuel Okafor, Commissioner of Police Muhammad Wakili (Singham), with the Chief Justice of the Federation as Judicial Adviser and Kazaure as the Secretary.
But economic watchers and social scientists wondered why Kazaure and his team got such powers despite the country having various anti-graft agencies constitutionally saddled with the responsibilities of handling financial malfeasances of individuals, corporations and government agency officials.
More shocking was that the same Presidency which Kazaure claimed was backing his committee issued a statement that flaunted the group as an illegal assemblage.
A statement by Mr Garba Shehu, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Spokesmen, described Kazaure as a henchman used by hitherto sacked consultants on Stamp Duty recovery to attempt a comeback.
He said: “Lately, they returned to the government through Hon. Muhammadu Gudaji Kazaure with a plan to track the so-called lost stamp duties with the erstwhile consultant as chairman and Hon. Gudaji as secretary.
“When it emerged that the petitioner and lead consultant of the committee the President had dissolved via the late Abba Kyari’s letter of March 28 had masqueraded himself and re-emerged as the chairman of the new recovery committee championed by the Hon. Gudaji, the President rescinded the approval he gave and asked that it be stopped from operating under the seal of his office.
“In addition to this committee being chaired by a petitioner, there were also other concerns relating to natural justice and fair hearing in having the Chief Justice of the Federation as a committee member and a serving member of the House of Representatives as Secretary, which are not in line with Section 5(1),(a)&(b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“Once the President rescinded his approval to constitute this Committee, lost all legitimacy.
Arguments have in recent days been flying left and right over the rightfulness of a committee being dissolved.
“To go back to the main issue though, it is now evident that the consultants and petitioners’ claims of a missing N89 trillion from stamp duty appears false and a figment of their malicious imaginations. The same set of consultants claimed in 2016 there was N20 trillion to be collected. It was found to be false. The entire banking sector deposit is not even up to half of N89 trillion.
“Indeed, if the Federal Government can find, it can pay off all its debt, both foreign and local currency and all state government debts and still have over N10 trillion left.
“So, the claim by these so-called consultants and the disbanded committee is totally ridiculous and a complete mockery”, Shehu said.
Contrary to Hon. Kazaure’s assertion, the I&E window is NOT an “account” where foreign exchange is deposited. It is simply a platform for trading foreign exchange. As of April 2020, the total amount of foreign exchange traded (either bought or sold) in the window was about $171 billion. The size of this amount suggests that there is adequate liquidity or availability of foreign exchange and that anyone who wants to buy or sell would easily find a counterparty to trade with. The amount does not mean that we have $171 billion stacked away in some vault or saved in any account” he explained.
Commenting on Kazaure’s allegations, the CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi wondered how the sum of N89 trillion could accumulate through the payment of stamp duty when the entire assets of all banks in Nigeria is about N63 trillion; far lower than the amount being claimed to have been siphoned.
He said, “We have been hearing these allegations, but they said N89trn stamp duty accumulated. The total assets for Nigerian banks is about N63 trillion and someone is claiming that fifty kobo accumulated to N89 trillion, how possible is it?
“If there is any committee in charge, that has nothing to do with us. The committee can do their work, but it has nothing to do with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Our most concern is the N89 trillion because the total assets of all the banks in Nigeria is not up to that amount.
“The ratio of stamp duty is obedience to the law, because issues around stamp duty is obedience to the law, this is not about CBN, but obeying what the law says.
“CBN is the creation of the law, and that is why we say, CBN is an institution with statutory flavor. Our responsibility is to keep up with the law. The law states that the act on stamp duty must be obeyed, and that is what it does. We keep a record of all transactions, that is why whenever we hear such allegations, we are shocked.”
He said the issue about transactions by CBN on the I & E window hitting $171bn was false, as it was not an account where monies are deposited, but a platform where people from different sectors of the country’s economy trade in foreign exchange.
Similarly, a group under the aegis of Arewa Youth Assembly faulted the claims by Kazaure stating that it was done to incite Nigerians against the President and the CBN,
The group accused the lawmaker of running a “parallel government” by allegedly exercising “executive and judicial power” on his programme that has an estimated daily listenership and viewership of 20 million people across the world.
On Kazaure’s allegation, the group said the figures are ‘unverifiable’, noting that the Presidency has dispelled the lawmaker’s claim that the committee that made the discovery was approved by President Buhari.