‘Stamp Duty Collection Stands At N370bn Not N89trn’

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, yesterday, revealed that the amount collected as stamp duty between 2016 and 2022 stands at N370.686billion and not N89trillion as trumpeted by a disbanded committee headed by a lawmaker, Hon. Gudaji Kazaure.
Emefiele, who stated this at the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for 2023, noted that the clarification became important because Nigerians needed to be fed with facts about the public accounting system and not sentiments and falsehoods.
He said: “We won’t join in the argument because it’ll overheat the system but I’m responding because it’s about public accountability.
“Total asset of banks in Nigeria is N71.5trillion. The total deposit in banks is N44.498trillion. So, how is it possible to have N89trillion in collection? It is twice the deposit.
“We went into our system and traced collections from 2016 to date. We told the banking supervision department to give us records of collection on their signed letterheads.
“The report is that total stamp duty collected by banks and signed for, N370,686,315,505.28.
“Out of that, FAAC has disbursed N226,451,720,158.88. The balance is N144,234,595,346.40. The highest collection was made by First Bank, which is N71.6billion in seven years. It was signed on their letterhead.
“Again, we have engaged the big four auditing firms; KPMG, Ernst and Young, PWC, and Deloitte.
“No intention to overheat the system. Nigerians deserve to know, and that’s why I’m explaining this”.