The collection of stamp duty is the statutory duty of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), as clearly stated in the Stamp Duty Act, the Post Master General/ Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Barrister Bisi Adegbuyi has said.
Barr. Adegbuyi said this yesterday at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zaynab Ahmed had announced last week that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will automatically become an agency to collect the Stamp Duty following the passage of the 2019 Finance Bill by the National Assembly which contains an amendment to Stamp Duty Act.
But the NIPOST Post Master General said the Office of the Accountant General had also issued a circular to NIPOST on the collection of both physical and electronic stamp duty of N50, maintaining that there is no conflict between NIPOST and Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) in the collection of stamp duty.
He announced that the postal agency has collected N45.8billion as proceeds from stamp duty as of December 13, 2019.
The Post Master General disclosed that a committee had been constituted to audit banks that collect stamp duty to ensure that actual amount collected by them is remitted to the stamp duty account, domiciled in the Federation Account.
He said the NIPOST management and staff were irrevocably committed to ensuring that the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari delivers on its mandate to the citizenry, in line with Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
To ensure efficient service delivery, he said, plans were underway to ensure partial commercialisation of NIPOST, adding that it would be one of the major cardinal mandates of NIPOST in 2020.
He noted that already National Council on Privatisation had commenced work on the partial commercialisation of NIPOST.
He added that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) had appointed a world class advisor to realise the objective.
In the proposed partial commercialisation, he allayed the fear that staff of NIPOST would be relieved of their jobs; rather, he said, new jobs would be created upon completion of the exercise.
As part of his plans to ensure total turnaround of the post offices across the country, Adegbuyi vowed to ensure automation of all NIPOST services as well as digitally transform the organisation in 2020.
He said: “I am setting an agenda for the new NIPOST which is beyond mail delivery. It would render services that would touch the lives of all Nigerians.
“There will be bonding. Government will realise that it has a parastatal it can use to reach the people, especially our people who live in the rural areas for communication and delivery of social economic development.”
