Emefiele: Only N370bn collected as stamp duty in six years — not N89trn

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the total revenue collected as stamp duty between 2016 and 2022 is N370.7 billion.

Last month, Gudaji Kazaure, member of the house of representatives on mismanagement or embezzlement of stamp duty funds, raised alarm over attempts by government officials to “cover-up” stamp duty proceeds running into N89 trillion.

Kazaure alleged that the CBN, the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (OSGF), and the protocol department of the state house, conspired to prevent him from briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the findings of his investigation concerning the funds.

The presidency, however, dismissed the allegations and described them as “false”.

Speaking on the issue during the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, Emefiele said the CBN was not withholding any N89 trillion.

He said the clarification became necessary because Nigerians need to know the true position of things and not falsehoods.

According to Emefiele, the “total assets of all banks is N71 trillion; total deposit in banks is N44 trillion”.

“From 2016 till date, stamp duty collection has amounted to N370.686 billion,” the CBN governor said.

“The Federal Inland Revenue Service has disbursed N226.451 billion of the money to the federation account allocation committee, while the balance of N144.235 billion is in the CBN.

“The highest collection of the stamp is N71 billion, collected by First Bank.”

Emefiele added that the CBN had appointed four world-class audit firms to go into the books of banks to verify if there was any unremitted stamp duty.

“If there is any uncollected stamp duty, the banks will pay to the last kobo,’’ he said.