Barely two days after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) told the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, that it is the agency that is statutorily empowered to collect stamp duty, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), on Wednesday, insisted it has right, more than any other agency, to collect stamp duty.
The Chairman of FIRS, Mallam Mohammed Nami, had urged the governor for support in the service’s effort to meet the N8.2tn target set for it in the 2020 fiscal year during the agency’s ongoing national tour of its management to the six geo-political zones to sensitise taxpayers on the 2019 Finance Act. Specifically, the tax administrator urged the governor to work closely with FIRS to ensure prompt collection and timely remittance of Withholding Tax (WHT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) on contracts, Company Income Tax (CIT), stamp duty, among others, to the federation account. Mallam Nami pointed out that FIRS was now the agency tasked with the responsibility of collecting stamp duty on behalf of the Federal Government. However, NIPOST’s leadership, on Wednesday, insisted that it would not give up its right on stamp duty collection.
NIPOST’s Post-Master General (PMG), Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, maintained in Abuja when the NIPOST management paid a working visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), that “our position is that we have more right than any other agency to collect stamp duty; it belongs to us, not any other agency.’’ Dr. Adewusi said stamp duty collection remained part of the postal service agency’s core mandate as it was the practice everywhere in the world. He said, “Everything that has to do with stamp is handled by the postal service. Stamp duty collection is part of our core mandate and we are still going to continue with the mandate.”
He added that, “The issue is still being resolved and we are hopeful the outcome will be in our favour.” While disclosing why they were at NCC, the PMG said the postal agency was looking at collaborating with the telecom sector regulator on financial inclusion. He said the partnership would help improve the financial inclusion drive of the government and improve the economic situation of the country.
He also said the agency would collaborate with NCC on SIM card registration by helping to verify physical addresses given by those who registered their SIM cards, and also solicited NCC’s help in making internet available at NIPOST offices in the rural areas. Responding, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garuba Danbatta, promised that the commission would collaborate with NIPOST in all the stated areas. Prof. Danbatta said NCC had already done a lot in terms of financial inclusion, adding that planned collaboration with the postal agency would further increase the country’s inclusion rate. At the end of the meeting, a committee comprising staff of the two agencies was set up; to be chaired by the NCC boss, to look deeply into the areas of collaboration and submit a report on how best to make it work.
