FG makes revenue stamp binding document for legal transactions

The Federal Government is to, henceforth, use the N50 revenue stamp of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to authenticate legal transactions among institutions.

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, made the pronouncement yesterday in Abuja at the unveiling of the document.

“This stamp is going to be used in denoting documents for authenticating business transactions, agreements and any lawful transaction between (among) institutions.

“So, henceforth, in all these transactions, based on the provisions of the Finance Act 2020 (as amended), we must ensure that as good citizens, we comply with it in all our activities,” he appealed.

The minister noted that NIPOST was “neglected completely and its infrastructure dilapidated with no plan for transformation after spending many years without amending their regulations, which almost led to the extinction of the service.”

He continued: “When we came on board, we embarked on policy formulation and were able to effect the transformation you are seeing here today (yesterday) through amendment of the Finance Act in 2020.”

Pantami hinted of a policy to make NIPOST to become a revenue-generating service, stating that the unveiling of the revenue stamp was beginning of transformation of the organisation in the areas of revenue generation and growth.

He added: “Part of the policy in the works to make NIPOST a revenue-generating service is to amend the Act to include a transport and logistics arm, property and development company, conveyor service, as well as a microfinance bank.”

The minister explained that revenue generated from these arms would go into health, education, communication and agriculture financing.

Post Master-General of the Federation, Dr. Ismail Adewusi, said relevant provisions of the amended Finance Act 2020 had statutorily recognised stamps produced by the agency for denotation of duties and fees.

“One of the statutory responsibilities of NIPOST is the issuance of stamps, including revenue stamps,” he clarified.

Chairman, NIPOST Governing Board, Maimuna Abubakar, promised that the board will continue to support the organisation by evolving strategies and innovations to grow it.

She said: “The official unveiling of the revenue stamp represents a quantum leap in the re-engineering efforts of NIPOST.”