A Coalition of Civil Society Groups has criticised the allegations raised by House of Representatives member Muhammed Kazaure, of a missing 89 trillion naira in stamp duty proceeds by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
At a protest to the National assembly, the group says the allegations leveled against the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele are unfounded.
A House of Representatives member, Muhammed Kazaure had raised concerns about an alleged theft of stamp duty proceedings running to 89 trillion naira.
The lawmaker also claimed he had documents to back his claims that prove that the funds is in the possession of the apex bank.
Muhammed Kazaure further accused the CBN, of not remitting stamp duty revenues to the federal government.
These protesters have turned out in large numbers to accuse the lawmaker of mischief.
The group also alleges that the implementation of the cashless policy and redesign of naira notes, are policies that do not sit well with some members of the political class.
The Stamp duty collection in Nigeria has been a major source of friction between the Federal Government and the Business Community following its imposition by the Federal Government after the review of the Finance Act in 2019.
The Stand Duty Act was originally enacted in 1939 and was revamped in 2004 under the Presidency of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as part of his Economic reforms and was again reviewed in 2019 under the current President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The review was part of efforts aimed at shoring up government’s revenue which according to experts is poor in terms of collectibles from Tax when compared to Other Economies of the World.
The volume of money collected from Stamp Duty Tax across the Country has been a source of disagreement over the years with many stakeholders accusing Banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria of infractions over its collection.
The current accusation by Honourable Kazaure is not new as the Stamp duty’s collection has been shrouded in controversy from the onset though the scale of his allegation is too good to be true.
