Headline

Presidency Knocks Lawmaker Over Missing N89tn Stamp Duty Claim

Published

3 years ago

December 13, 2022

Editor

Following the controversies trailing a claim of a missing sum of N89.09 trillion allegedly lost from siphoned stamp duty charges, the Presidency on Tuesday said such is false.

It also said the entire banking sector deposit in Nigeria does not amount to half of N89tn.

“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.

The statement is titled, “Stamp duty: facts Nigerians need to have.”

In an interview with BBC Hausa last Friday, the lawmaker representing the Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa, Yankwashi Constituency of Jigawa State at the lower chambers alleged that the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties has accused some government agencies of sabotaging the committee’s efforts.

According to Kazaure, who said he serves as the committee’s secretary, it was discovered that N89.09tn has so far been realised from deductions by banks but these funds have not made it to the FG’s coffers.

He alleged connivance by some critical operatives of the regime, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Protocol Department of the State House, preventing him from briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the findings.

But reacting to the claims on Tuesday, the Presidency said while there was a committee empowered by the President to look recover a sum of N20tn allegedly lost to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System, the President rescinded his approval upon realising the actual plan of said committee.

It explained that this “anomaly” arose because certain characters apparently formed a cartel with collaborators in the Nigerian Postal Service and were allegedly collecting and pocketing tokens on banking transactions.

Soon after, a non-government organisation posited to the regime that the Nigerian government had lost the sum of over N20tn to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System between 2013-2016 in this regard, claiming that the said sum could be recovered and paid back into the government coffers.

“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.

“In the aftermath of this dismissal, the consultants sued the government. A court of competent jurisdiction subsequently ruled in favour of the government,” the Presidency noted in the statement.

It said arising from the outcome of the litigation and the controversy on the legally responsible agent for collecting this levy, the regime caused an amendment to the law and removed NIPOST from the duty of its collection.

Having lost a potentially “lucrative” line of “business”, Shehu claimed that the sacked characters returned to the drawing board to formulate one form of trick or another to intimidate the government but the vigilant teams of the administration kept them at bay.

“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,” Shehu further explained.

Buhari’s decision, he said, was premised on concerns relating to natural justice and fair hearing 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 not in line with Section 5(1),(a)&(b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

The Presidency proceeded to answer questions raised by Kazaure in the BBC Hausa interview.

On the CBN’s Investors and Exporters window, which Kazaure claimed stood at $171 billion dollars as of 2020, it said “Contrary to Kazaure’s assertion, the I&E window is NOT an ‘account’ where foreign exchange is deposited. It is simply a platform for trading foreign exchange.

“As of April 2020, the total amount of foreign exchange traded (either bought or sold) in the window was about $171bn. The amount does not mean that we have $171bn stacked away in some vault or saved in any account.”

On accusations of the CBN loaning N23.4tn to some banks, Shehu said “the total balance sheet of the CBN is not anywhere near N23tn. So how can it give such an amount in loans to any or some banks?”

Responding to claims about a N13trillion loan to the federal government from the Financial Markets Derivative Quotes he said according to the Debt Management Office, the total amount of Nigeria’s domestic debt as of September 2022 is N21.6tn.

“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 matters and a duly authorised committee under the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami is “working to reconcile, recover and transfer all Stamp Duties into Stamp Duties Central Account. The work is ongoing, it is not finished yet and the President will continue to show his keen interest in the matter of Stamp Duty collection.”
PUNCH

Headline

FULL LIST: Nigeria Emerges As Africa’s Third Most Formidable Military Force

Published

5 hours ago

June 23, 2025

Editor

Nigeria has secured the third position among African nations with the most formidable military forces in the 2025 Global Firepower Military Strength Index, according to Global Firepower’s annual report cited by The PUNCH on Monday.

The index evaluates 145 countries based on over 60 metrics, including troop numbers, equipment capabilities, financial resources, logistical efficiency, and geographical advantages to assess military strength.

In the 2025 rankings, Egypt maintains its lead as Africa’s top military power, followed by Algeria in second place and South Africa in fourth. Nigeria’s rise to third underscores its growing military capabilities, driven by investments in personnel, equipment, and counter-terrorism efforts.

Here is a list of African countries ranked in the 2025 Global Firepower Index.

1. Egypt (19)

2. Algeria (26)

3. Nigeria (31)

4. South Africa (40)

5. Ethiopia (52)

6. Angola (56)

7. Morocco (59)

8. Democratic Republic of the Congo (66)

9. Sudan (73)

10. Libya (76)

11. Kenya (83)

12. Chad (84)

13. Mozambique (89)

14. Tunisia (90)

15. Tanzania (92)

16. Cameroon (93)

17. Ivory Coast (102)

18. Mali (104)

19. Zambia (109)

20. Ghana (110)

21. Zimbabwe (111)

22. South Sudan (113)

23. Uganda (114)

24. Namibia (116)

25. Niger (119)

26. Eritrea (120)

27. Republic of the Congo (121)

28. Botswana (122)

29. Mauritania (123)

30. Senegal (125)

31. Burkina Faso (129)

32. Madagascar (130)

33. Gabon (133)

34. Liberia (138)

35. Sierra Leone (140)

36. Somalia (142)

37. Central African Republic (143)

38. Benin (144)

Headline

Middle East Crisis Dominates EU Foreign Ministers’ Brussels Meeting

Published

6 hours ago

June 23, 2025

Editor

The foreign ministers of EU member states on Monday were set to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East at their June meeting in Brussels.

The talks come amid growing international alarm after the United States joined Israel in launching strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

A key question for the ministers will be whether Europe can help steer the crisis back towards diplomacy.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Sunday urged all sides “to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” in a statement posted on X.

Headline

US Says Strikes ‘Devastated’ Iran’s Nuclear Program

Published

21 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Editor

Unprecedented US strikes have wrecked Iran’s nuclear program, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday as Washington sought to assess what remained of the three targeted sites.

The surprise strikes threaten to deepen conflict in the Middle East after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, with Tehran vowing to retaliate against US involvement.

But the United States said President Donald Trump wanted peace and urged Iran to end the conflict after strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

“We devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding that the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”

Trump “seeks peace, and Iran should take that path”, Hegseth said. “This mission was not, and has not been, about regime change.”

Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that “it would be way too early for me to comment on what may or may not still be there.”

“Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” he told reporters.

– Protests in Tehran –

People gathered in the center of Tehran to protest against US and Israeli attacks, waving flags and chanting slogans, state TV showed.

Trump claimed total success for the operation in an address to the nation hours after the attack, and Vice President JD Vance followed up on Sunday morning.

“We know that we set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially last night, whether it’s years or beyond,” he told ABC.

“We’re not at war with Iran — we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” he added. “The president took decisive action to destroy that program last night.”

In Tehran, AFP journalists said the roar of aircraft flying over the city was heard repeatedly for the first time since Israel’s initial attacks.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not detected any increase in radiation levels at the nuclear sites and Tehran said Sunday there were no signs of contamination.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Istanbul the United States and Israel had “crossed a very big red line,” asserting Iran would continue to defend itself “by all means necessary.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US strikes, saying Trump’s decision to “target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.”

The Israeli military was also checking the results of the US raid on the deeply buried nuclear facility in Fordo, with a spokesman saying it was “too soon” to know if Iran had removed enriched uranium from the site.

The main US strike group was seven B-2 Spirit bombers flying 18 hours from the US mainland to Iran with multiple aerial refuelings, Caine said.

– Global concern –

In response to the US attack, Iran’s armed forces said they targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, the country’s main international gateway near Tel Aviv.

Israeli rescuers said at least 23 people were wounded.

In Jerusalem, Claudio Hazan, a 62-year-old software engineer, said he hoped the US intervention would hasten an end to the Iran-Israel war.

“Israel by itself would not stop… and it would take longer,” he said.

Israel said it had launched fresh strikes on western Iran and in Qom, south of Tehran. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported four Revolutionary Guard members were killed in strikes on a military base in the city’s north.

The Israeli military said it had “struck missile launchers ready to launch toward Israeli territory, soldiers in the Iranian Armed Forces, and swiftly neutralized the launchers that launched missiles toward Israeli territory.”

Iran’s Shargh newspaper reported that a “massive explosion was heard” Sunday in Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

Iranian news agencies also reported strikes in Yazd province.

The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, which had been mediating Iran-US nuclear talks, criticized the US move and urged de-escalation.

The European Union called on all sides “to step back,” while stressing Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The Iranian foreign minister said he would travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Following his address, Trump warned Iran against retaliation. Iran and its proxies have previously attacked US military bases in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

Iran’s Huthi allies in Yemen on Sunday repeated their threat to resume attacks in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war, saying they were ready to target US ships and warships.

The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck the country on June 13, repeating his insistence it could never have nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies seeking an atomic bomb. On Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear program “cannot be taken away… by threats or war.”