It’s always good governance that is bruised when agencies of government engage one another in needless disputes. ELEOJO IDACHABA in this report examines such feuds and how government businesses have suffered in the past.
The FIRS vs. NIPOST brouhaha
At the moment, there is no love lost between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), two agencies of government, and this has turned into a messy fight both in social and conventional media.
This is not a new development in the country, especially since 2015, as inter-agency feud had nearly grounded government activities in the past.
FIRS fired first shot
In the present scenario, the apex tax administration agency had of late consistently accused NIPOST of illegally collecting stamp duty, among other allegations.
In a recent statement on its official twitter page and signed by its director of communication and liaison, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, FIRS vowed to ensure that all monies diverted to the wrong quarters by NIPOST are remitted into the proper federation account with accountability in mind.
The statement read in part, “The FIRS is determined to not only ensure that all monies collected by NIPOST into its illegally-operated Stamp Duties account are fully remitted into the federation account but also make sure that any kobo not accounted for in that account is legally recovered.”
Before now, the chairman of NIPOST Board, Hajiya Maimuna Abubakar, had also in a series of tweets accused the FIRS of stealing the mandate of NIPOST by selling postage stamps.
“I am worried for NIPOST and I have been having sleepless night because of NIPOST. We need the general public to come to our aid; FIRS stole our mandate. They are now selling stamps instead of buying from us,” her post once read.
It did not end there, but went further to accuse FIRS of attempting to do what she called ‘kill and ‘bury’ tactic of the tax agency against NIPOST, while demanding that the stolen mandate be returned.
“FIRS did not only steal our stamps, but also our ideas; what NIPOST had worked for since 2016 like our documents and patent and sneaked everything into finance bill and tactically removed the name of NIPOST.
“I like to make this clear, NIPOST is the only agency charged with the responsibility of producing adhesive stamps and revenue for the purchase of such stamp accrues to the government through NIPOST.”
In a sharp reaction, FIRS stated its position saying the management of NIPOST was simply ignorant about the difference between ‘Stamp Duty’ and ‘Postage Stamp.’
Its statement read in part, “We appreciate the general public for demonstrating deep knowledge of the difference between Stamp Duty and Postage Stamp. It is unfortunate that Mrs. Maimuna Abubakar, chairperson of the NIPOST board is yet to understand this.
“To be sure, NIPOST is a government parastatal established by Decree 41 of 1992 with the function to develop, promotes, and provides adequate and efficiently co-ordinated postal services at reasonable rate.”
Blueprint Weekend investigation reveals that this whole brouhaha between the two government agencies actually started in July when FIRS announced that, henceforth, Stamp Duty would be paid on house rents and Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in accordance with its new adhesive duty.
To that extent, Ahmad urged Nigerians to ensure that documents that have anything to do with rent, lease and other common business-related transaction instruments should be authenticated with the new FIRS Adhesive Stamp Duty.
While clarifying this further, the executive chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nani said, “Stamp duty is a tax payable in respect of dutiable instrument as provided under the Stamp Duties Act, CAP S8 LFN 2004 (as amended).
NIPOST justifies self
NIPOST, however, says the Stamp Duty account it operates was opened in consultation with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation subject to the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to Frank Alao, NIPOST’s general manager, corporate communications, in response to an allegation by FIRS accusing it of operating illegal stamp duty account, “The account that the director of communication FIRS made reference to as illegal was opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in consultation with the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation in the name of NIPOST Stamp Duties Collection Account when CBN gave instruction to Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to commence the deduction of N50 stamp duties from bank customers’ accounts.
“We hereby state categorically that the statement is false and made to misinform and mislead members of the public.”
It further stated that the stamp duty account belongs to the federal government as the agency does not have access to the money in the account.
“The account belongs to the federation and NIPOST does not have access to whatsoever monies lodged into the account, as such the question of illegality and misappropriation does not arise.”
Other examples of inter-agency feuds
Since the beginning of the life of the current administration, there have been unending fights among appointees of the government. This is especially between ministers and heads of various agencies. For example, it is no longer news that there has not been any love lost between the suspended chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
Their differences became noticeable after Malami’s allegations against Magu became public leading to his recent arrest and suspension.
That is not all, a few months ago, it was the turn of the chairman of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isah Pantami, over office accommodation.
NIDCOM, an agency of the government, had lacked office space since inception running to two years now, but was offered a space by the Nigerian Communications Commission, an agency under the ministry where Pantami superintends. However, Pantami allegedly ordered NIDCOM staff out of the premises and locked the entire floor occupied by the Diaspora agency, according to Dabiri-Erewa.
In a reaction, Dabiri-Erewa accused the minister of ordering armed men to chase away her staff from the office, an allegation Pantami denied vehemently despite evidences on ground.
The matter degenerated into a messy fight with Dabiri-Erewa accusing the minister of being disrespectful to women while the minister called the NIDCOM boss a liar.
According to Erewa, “An Islamic scholar should not lie. Hon minister, you did that to me because I am a woman. Your disrespect for women is legendary. Left the ugly incident behind me since February, but please, release all our office equipment. Public office is transient.”
In his own reaction through a tweet, Pantami said, “This is a fat lie from her. The owner of the building @NgComCommission has faulted her lies on their social media platforms.
“The minister has never given that directive. We need to be very objective in reporting. I have never sent any gunmen there and I have never sent anyone.”
Although, this matter appears to have been settled, not a few feathers were ruffled.
Not too long ago, it was the turn of the minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio and erstwhile managing director of the Interim Management Committee of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh.
Akpabio had sternly responded to claims of abuse of office by Nunieh against him, describing the NDCC’s former boss as too temperamental to be responsible after an attack on her marital life.
Reacting, Nunieh said, “Nobody makes any payment in NDDC without Godswill Akpabio’s approval. When we first came on the day of the inauguration, he said to me in the car, ‘Madam MD’, if you don’t do what I say, the same pen with which I used to sign your paper, is the same pen I will use to remove you.”
Thereafter, the fireworks that erupted between them could not be quenched until Nunieh was removed from office in February 2020. Following her removal, a lot of revelations emerged leading to the recent public hearing organised by the House of Representatives on activities of the Commission.
Another case in point is the one that happened recently between the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and that of power, Saleh Mamman, over the sacking of the chief executive officer of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Marilyn Amobi, which eventually led to verbal war.
Zainab had reinstated Amobi and inaugurated the board of the agency recently moved to her ministry by President Buhari as against when the agency was under the Ministry of Power.
The action was seen as an affront against Mamman who had on two separate occasions recommended Amobi’s sack. It took the prevalence of common sense to calm down the alleged growing tension between heads of the two ministries.
‘It’s not new development’
According to Dr Samuel Odoma of Kogi State University, Anyigba, inter-agency clash is not a recent phenomenon in Nigeria as it has been common among the ranks of uniform personnel.
He said, “It was first noticed in the country around 1977 in Port Harcourt between the personnel of Nigeria Police and Nigerian Army. This problem has not only become repeated in several parts of Nigeria, but has over the years involved virtually all the security agencies and paramilitary organisations in Nigeria. For instance, there were reported cases of violent clashes involving personnel of Nigeria Police and Nigerian Navy; between the Nigeria Police and Nigerian Air Force; between Nigeria Police and National Security and Civil Defence Corps and between Nigeria Police and Nigeria Customs Service. However, army-police clashes have been the most prominent of them all, considering the frequency of occurrence, the level of casualties, losses and confusion that accompanied it.”
The missing link
While speaking during the Chief of Army Staff conference in Asaba a few years ago, Segun Adeniyi, former spokesperson to the late Yar’Adua speaking as guest speaker, he also hammered on the same issue when he said, “One thing must be clear: Interagency co-operation is a matter of mutual trust and mutual respect – having a hunch that if I give my word, you will have my back. That seems to be lacking substantially in our country today.
“Increased training for personnel in the various agencies on issues of interagency co-operation would go a long way in enhancing their effectiveness. Such training should focus on the dangers of not sharing valuable intelligence or failing to promote inter-agency collaboration, which may not only be detrimental to national security, but also puts everybody at risk. But beyond collaboration, we must address the critical issue of coordination.”
Many Nigerians are of the view that the reason for sheer disharmony within the ranks of government agencies is because of the absence of demarcation in responsibilities coupled with the lack of a clearly defined reporting structure which is a sine qua non to stability in government.
