The Nigeria Postal Service will now be responsible for collecting stamp duty charges, taking back the duty from the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, announced this on Thursday while speaking at the launch of Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary Commemorative Postage Stamps in Abuja.

“Our efforts regarding the issue of stamp duty collection with other government Institutions have yielded positive results.

“NIPOST has been recognised as a government agency with statutory and historical authority to be the producer of stamps and recognised for the collection of stamp duties for validation of financial transactions in the country,” he said.

The controversy between NIPOST and the FIRS over who should control stamp duty collection became public after the FIRS reacted to NIPOST’s claim that it was operating illegal stamp duty accounts.

The FIRS held that it was the only agency of the federal government charged with assessing, collecting, and accounting for all types of taxes, including stamp duties.

In August 2020, NIPOST denied these claims, asserting that the Central Bank of Nigeria opened the account under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the name of ‘NIPOST Stamp Duties Collection Account,’ when the CBN ordered banks (DMB) to begin the N50 removal from customers’ accounts.

In 2020, Mr. Pantami claimed the FIRS’s decision to collect the stamp duty was wrong.

He insisted that the Federal Executive Council did not authorise the Ministry of Finance and the FIRS to collect the stamp duty.