Adegbuyi confirms NIPOST, Stamp Duties Acts as grossly obsolete
Barrister Adebisi Adegbuyi, post master general of Nigeria, and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), has confirmed that the Act establishing the Service and the Stamp Duties have become grossly obsolete.
The Post Master General made this position known at a public hearing organized recently by the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications on a bill seeking to repeal the NIPOST Act, by re-enacting the Nigerian Postal Commission Act, and another seeking amendment to the Stamp duties Act.
Adegbuyi stated that the nation’s business landscape had been tremendously affected by information technology, “thus the need to upgrade applicable provisions” of the laws.
Commenting on the Stamp Duties Act, Adegbuyi said there were several core challenges that have necessitated the call for amendment of the extant law, including the need to provide answers to whether the use of an adhesive postage or electronic stamp to denote a document or receipt, or register able instrument amount to the payment of stamp duty tax.
He debunked the claim that the provision of adhesive postage or electronic stamps by NIPOST infringe on the powers of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, or State Inland Revenue Sevice, as “the same Stamp Duties Act prescribes the taxes to be collected by FIRS or SIRS, or the Customs Sevice…”.
Adegbuyi in his recommendations for amendment to the Act, said that innovations such as the Internet and the POS machine have been captured as receiving medium, whose electronically generated receipts are to be denoted, and that graded financial penalties have been introduced for a first offender, a second offender, a third and subsequent offender.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), represented by its Director of Legal Services, Mr Johnson Akinkunmi expressed support for the bills, but warned that care must be taken that electronic payment platform users are not discouraged through taxes, as this may work against the apex bank’s cashless policy presently in operation.
Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara represented by the Chief Whip, Alhassan Doguwa to declare the event open said “The world is being constantly shaped by innovations in ICT”, adding that as lawmakers, they are determined to make laws that will help agencies maximize their potentials.
Dogara acknowledged that while NIPOST cannot be said to be moribund, these bills nonetheless seek to create an enabling environment for NIPOST to measure up with the advanced postal administration in the deployment of its services, while aiding it to attain financial autonomy and shore up staff morale.
“The 8th House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly is undoubtedly committed to exercising its obligations under the Constitution to ensure that all government agencies and Parastatals maximize their potentials through the enactment of enabling laws,” the Rep Speaker said.
He added that the postal service will benefit greatly from latest technological innovations which will widen its reach, create more customer base and ultimately, lead to more revenue generation for the federal government.
