The presidency has stated that controversies surrounding the claim of a missing sum of N89.09 trillion allegedly lost due to siphoned stamp duty charges, is false.
It also stated that the total banking sector deposit in Nigeria does not equal half of N89 trillion, The Punch reports.
“Stamp duty: facts Nigerians need to know,” the statement says.
“It is now evident that the consultants and petitioners’ claim of a missing N89tn from stamp duty appears false and a figment of their malicious imaginations. The same set of consultants claimed in 2016 there was N20tn 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 N89tn Naira, it can pay off all its debt, both foreign and local currency and all state government debts and still have over N10tn left,” a statement signed on Tuesday evening by the President’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, read.
In an interview with BBC Hausa last Friday, the lawmaker representing the Jigawa State constituency of Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa, and Yankwashi in the lower chambers claimed that the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties had accused some government agencies of sabotaging the committee’s efforts.
According to the committee’s secretary, Kazaure, it was discovered that N89.09tn has so far been realised from bank deductions, but these funds have not made it to the FG’s coffers.
He accused the regime’s critical operatives, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the State House Protocol Department, of conspiring to prevent him from briefing the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on the findings.
However, in response to the claims made on Tuesday, the Presidency stated that while the President had established a committee to investigate the alleged loss of N20 trillion to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System, the President revoked his approval after learning of the actual plan of said committee.
It explained that this “anomaly” arose because certain characters allegedly formed a cartel with collaborators in the Nigerian Postal Service and were allegedly collecting and pocketing tokens on banking transactions.
Soon after, a non-governmental organisation informed the regime that the Nigerian government had lost over N20 trillion to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System between 2013 and 2016, claiming that the sum could be recovered and returned to the government coffers.
The Presidency noted in the statement: “The consultants asked to be paid a professional fee of 7.5 per cent and were placed under the supervision of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“Following the lack of progress in the promised recovery, the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari wrote on March 8, 2018, to the SGF conveying a presidential directive that following the lack of progress and several expressed concerns received, the activities of the consultants be discontinued.
Shehu further explained, “In the aftermath of this dismissal, the consultants sued the government. A court of competent jurisdiction subsequently ruled in favour of the government.”
“Lately, they returned to the government through Hon. Muhammadu Kazaure with a plan to track the so-called lost stamp duties with the erstwhile consultant as chairman and 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 Gudaji, the President rescinded the approval he gave and asked that it be stopped from operating under the seal of his office.”
Buhari’s decision, he said, was based on concerns about natural justice and fair hearings 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 in violation of Section 5(1),(a)&(b) of the 1999 Constitution.
In response to allegations that the CBN loaned N23.4 trillion to some banks, Shehu stated that “the CBN’s total balance sheet is nowhere near N23 trillion.” So how can it make such a large loan to any or all banks?”
Responding to claims of a N13 trillion loan to the federal government from the Financial Markets Derivative Quotes, he stated that the total amount of Nigeria’s domestic debt as of September 2022 is N21.6 trillion, according to the Debt Management Office.
“Is Kazaure suggesting that a small company in Lagos holds over 60 per cent of Nigeria’s domestic debt? Of the N21.6tn domestic debt, only N4.5tn are in Treasury Bills. How then can a company in Lagos hold more treasury bills (N13tn) than the entire treasury bills issued by the Federal Government?” Shehu queried.
According to him, the President has not ignored these issues, and a duly authorised committee led by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami is investigating them.
