The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other commercial banks have been collecting money under the guise of stamp duty on behalf of the Nigerian Postal Service, or NIPOST.
While this was happening, Prime 9ja Online learned that NIPOST management and employees were incensed when their company was linked to the allegedly missing N89 trillion in NIPOST Stamp Duties that the Central Bank of Nigeria collected.
Hon. Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure, a Jigawa State House of Representatives member, recently claimed that the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) collection of NIPOST Stamp Duties totals N89 trillion was missing.
In interviews with the BBC, the Brekete family, a Nigerian human rights radio station, and other media outlets, Kazaure said that certain senior officials in President Muhammadu Buhari's administration diverted the duty.
They discovered that the apex bank received more than N80 trillion, according to the federal legislator who is a part of the presidential committee looking into the deposit and withdrawal fees for stamp duty since 2013. They also claimed that the sum is "even" inflated.
He said that the CBN Governor and "those who placed him there" are among those who are profiting from the scam. He also accused some of receiving government cash in exchange for goods they then sold for a profit.
But in a statement released on Friday that Prime 9ja Online was able to obtain, NIPOST explained that the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which CBN opened in the name of NIPOST Stamp Duties Collection Account after consulting with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, was used by NIPOST to collect stamp duty payments.
The Postmaster General, Sunday Adepoju, said in a statement, "NIPOST had absolutely no opportunity, privilege, or access to this account. It simply had NIPOST's name on it.
“All deductions of stamp duties for and on behalf of NIPOST were carried out by the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) at source and directly remitted to the said dedicated NIPOST Stamp Duties Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the total aggregated collection stood at Fifty- nine billion, three hundred million naira (N59.3 billion) only as at May 2020, when it was moved to the Federation Account following the controversy with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as to which of agencies of government has the right to collect stamp duty”.
The NIPOST helmsman maintained that the postal service is unaware of any cartel allegedly collecting and pocketing money belonging to the government on stamp duty, and no such monies as mentioned came into NIPOST’s account.