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Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is set to probe commercial banks over stamp duty collections which have accumulated to over N33 billion.
In a statement at the weekend, spokesperson of the Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, said the exercise which would commence soon will involve a forensic investigation of the funds that have so far been collected as stamp duty by 22 Deposit Money Banks (DMB) from 2000 to 2018.
The RMAFC is the Federal Government body vested with the powers to monitor all revenue accruals into the Federation Account.
According to the statement, the affected commercial banks have been deducting the sum of N50 on every deposit valued at N1,000 and above since January 2000.
So far, a total sum of N33 billion had been realised from stamp duty collections which the agency believes fall far below the expectation of stakeholders.
It is expected that at the end of the exercise, over N100 billion would be re- covered.
The statement further added that the Commis- sion had concluded arrangement to engage the services of reputable forensic audit firms to carry out the probe of the banks.
“The probe will be comprehensive as it will cover the affixed stamp used on cheque books prior to the introduction of electronic transactions” Mohammed, said.
In the same vein, the Commission has observed that if NIPOST is properly repositioned through appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the introduction of appropriate technology, the agency can generate over 500 billion.
Therefore, the Commis- sion is using this medium to appeal to the National Assembly and the Federal Government to initiate measures for the amendment of the NIPOST Act to enable it expand the economy and attract more revenue to the Federation.
In a related development, RMAFC had also embarked on the reconciliation exercise of Signature bonuses and other miscellaneous revenues from the oil and gas industry to enable the Commission engage other stakeholders with a view to reducing revenue leak- ages and enhance remittance into the Federation Account.
The Commission there- fore seeks the support of stakeholders especially the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable it succeed on the exercise.
