Business News

Nigeria’s retail outlets risk CBN sanction, debit N50 PoS fee from customers

Investigations have disclosed that some retail outlets are still collecting N50 PoS Stamp Duty charge from customers despite CBN’s directive.

Published

7 months ago

January 2, 2020

Chidinma Nwagbara

Access Bank tells customers to pay N50Stamp Duty

Following the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that N50 Point of Sale (PoS) Stamp Duty charge should be collected from businesses and not customers, some retail outlets are still collecting the fee.

The retail outlets in the e-payment value chain such as filling stations and supermarkets, which are supposed to be paying the Stamp Duty fee themselves as it is a merchant charge, not a customer charge, have continued to collect the illegal fee from customers.

In order to avoid dispute between customers, what some do is to add it directly to the customer’s purchases while others just put up a notice of the payment for customers to see before purchasing anything.

Speaking on the trend, the President of the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, Uju Ogubunka, said that the actions being carried out by the businesses in spite of the CBN’s directive were condemnable and that it should stop.

He called on the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure compliance with the directive by marketers while also urging the CBN to ensure full compliance’s across retail shops.

[READ MORE: Bank CEOs, NCC, CBN to meet over USSD charges)

“I expect the CBN to move beyond its directive that bank customers reject the fee and fight for customers. Another option is for the customers to carry cash and avoid the fee where the risks are minimal.” Ogubunka said.

On the other hand, the CBN Director, Payment System Management Department, Musa Jimoh, according to The Nation, advised customers to reject the N50 PoS fee. He emphasized the fact that the stamp duty which is a fee regulated by an Act has been misinterpreted by many.

“Our circular that talks about merchants paying stamp duty according to the law does not say that the stamp duty should be paid by the consumer. That’s actually a misrepresentation of the CBN’s directive.

“What our directive says is that merchants should pay all necessary charges as regulated by the government agency, including stamp duty. When there is an electronic transaction to an account other than savings account and the transaction amount is more than N1,000, you have to pay stamp duty,” the CBN official said and quoted by The Nation.

What you should know: Data obtained from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme disclosed that depositors across banks did transactions worth N97.32 trillion over the instant payment and Point of Sales (PoS) in the last 11 months.

While a total of N94.49 trillion worth transaction were conducted via the instant payment platform, another N2.83 trillion were carried out by banks’ depositors on the PoS platform within the same period under review.

Related Topics:Bank Customers Association of Nigeria CBN debt Musa Jimoh POS PoS charge retail sanction Uju Ogubunka

Chidinma Nwagbara

Chidinma holds a degree in Mass communication from Caleb University Lagos and a Masters in view in Public Relations. She strongly believes in self development which has made her volunteer with an NGO on girl child development. She loves writing, reading and travelling. You may contact her via - [email protected]

2 Comments

Ogbeche Augustine

January 2, 2020 at 9:02 pm

This issue of Bank the C.B.N SHOULD COME up with a strong hand so that this rubbish we stop i went to my bank G T BANK today and there are still talking that THE C.B.N directive can not work there should obey the rule of law

Reply
PapaRash

January 3, 2020 at 10:34 pm

The CBN as a regulatory body is making the whole issue messy.

You have directed that merchants pay N50 stamp duty on products you don’t have fixed and regulated prices on and the merchant in turn increases prices on his products.

What is the fuse about the increase? Can Emiefele run his own business and accept this directive when cost has been push to him?

Which part of my business does CBN support me? Running capital, insurance, staff salaries, rentage, security etc.

To me, the apex bank is confused.

Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Business News

Crude oil prices record gains, as Iraq pledges to curb crude oil production

Oil markets traded softer into the weekend on the back of escalating US-China tensions.

Published

6 hours ago

August 10, 2020

Olumide Adesina

CRUDE OIL, U.S Shale, Naira under pressure, as crude oil hits $25 per barrel, Oil Price: A dead cat bounce in the making?, Bears tear Crude oil futures into shreds as Brent slumps more than 20%

Crude oil prices soared higher on the first trading session of the week. This is as Iraq, a leading OPEC member, disclosed that it would reduce its oil production. More so, U.S. President Donald Trump has taken executive action on the provision of economic aid to Americans hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby reigniting hopes among crude oil traders for a recovery in energy demand.

The West Texas Intermediate gained 1.26% to $41.71. Brent Crude was also up 0.95% to $44.82 at the time this report was drafted.

Iraq, the second-largest OPEC member (in terms of production capacity) disclosed that it would increase its production cuts to compensate for failing to comply with a deal earlier made in April 2020 to curb crude oil production.

Insight: In an explanatory note to Nairametrics, Stephen Innes, the Chief Global Market Strategist at AxiCorp, spoke about the macros that crude oil is presently focused on. He said:

“Oil remains in a relatively tight trading range with upside capped by concerns about the pace of the post-COVID-19 macro recovery and rising OPEC+ and US supply.

“Oil markets traded softer into the weekend on the back of escalating US-China tensions. Although prices bounced favorably on the US employment data, they were unable to hold on to their gains given the geopolitical overhang.”

Still, crude oil markets continue to test the upper bound of its recent trading range, supported by OPEC’s unwavering compliance commitment which was reaffirmed when Saudi Arabia and Iraq’s energy ministers made a joint statement saying that they were fully committed to the OPEC+ oil production agreement.

Companies

UACN’s major shareholder sells substantial shares

This is coming a few days after UAC Nigeria Plc announced a deal to divest 51% of its shares in UPDC.

Published

6 hours ago

August 10, 2020

Chike Olisah

UACN, UAC Nigeria’s Dividend Payment Might Not Be Worth The Struggle

One of the 3 major shareholders of UAC Nigeria Plc (UACN), Blakeney LLP, has substantially reduced its stakes in the conglomerate with the sale of 80 million additional shares.

This was disclosed in a notification that was sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by UAC Nigeria Plc. The notification was signed by the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Godwin Samuel.

Note that this is coming a few days after UAC Nigeria Plc announced a deal to divest 51% of its shares in UACN Petroleum Development Company (UPDC) to Custodian Investment Plc.

An analysis of this current sales and reduction of its stake shows that Blakeney LLP reduced its shareholding in the conglomerate through a deal on August 5, at a price of N5.75 per share. A further breakdown of the transactions shows that the 80,000,000 units were sold at N5.75 amounting to N460 million in purchase consideration.

Back Story: It can be recalled that UACN had earlier sent notifications to the NSE announcing sales of 75 million shares by Blakeney between the months of April and June

In an earlier notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and other stakeholders in February 2019, UAC of Nigeria Plc announced the emergence of three major shareholders with more than 5% stake in the company. The three major shareholders include Themis Capital Management (8.08%), Stanbic IBTC Nominees Limited (7.27%), Blakeney GP 111 Ltd (7.55%).
Nigeria’s oldest conglomerate has gone through some major restructuring in recent times following investments by these core investors and other major shareholders. In September 2019, UACN announced the outright dissolution of its interest and restructuring of UAC Property Development Company (UPDC) with the transfer of its interest directly to the shareholders.
Over the years, UACN has transformed from a very large conglomerate with footprints in different sectors of the economy to a leaner organization with interest in Manufacturing, Food & Beverage, Logistics, Agro-allied Industry, Paints and Chemicals.
Blakeney Management is one of the oldest and largest institutional investors in Africa and the Middle East. They are based in London and have been managing funds since 1995 for some of the largest institutions in the world.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 Update in Nigeria

On the 9th of August 2020, 437 new confirmed cases and 3 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

Published

12 hours ago

August 10, 2020

Samuel Oyekanmi

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increase as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 46,577 confirmed cases.

On the 9th of August 2020, 437 new confirmed cases and 3 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 2,864 samples across the country.

To date, 46,577 cases have been confirmed, 33,186 cases have been discharged and 945 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 317,496 tests have been carried out as of August 9th, 2020 compared to 314,632 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 9th August 2020,

Total Number of Cases – 46,577
Total Number Discharged – 33,186
Total Deaths – 945
Total Tests Carried out – 317,496

According to the NCDC, the 437 new cases were reported from 17 states- Lagos (107), FCT (91), Plateau (81), Kaduna (32), Ogun (30), Kwara (24), Ebonyi (19), Ekiti (17), Oyo (8), Borno (6), Edo (6), Kano (4), Nasarawa (3), Osun (3), Taraba (3), Gombe (2) and Bauchi (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 15,875, followed by Abuja (4,467), Oyo (2,868), Edo (2,382), Rivers (1,939), Kano (1,626), Kaduna (1,598), Delta (1,596), Plateau (1,502), Ogun (1,469), Ondo (1,284), Enugu (905), Ebonyi (870), Kwara (857), Katsina (746), Borno (688), Abia (644), Gombe (631), Osun (628), and Bauchi (577).

Imo State has recorded 476 cases, Benue (409), Nasarawa (370), Bayelsa (346), Jigawa (322), Akwa Ibom (235), Niger (226), Adamawa (185), Ekiti (178), Sokoto (154), Anambra (142), Kebbi (90), Zamfara (77), Taraba (72), Cross River (68), Yobe (67), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

Date	Confirmed case	New cases	Total deaths	New deaths	Total recovery	Active cases	Critical cases
August 9, 2020	46577	437	945	3	33186	12446	7
August 8, 2020	46140	453	942	6	33044	12154	7
August 7, 2020	45687	443	936	6	32637	12114	7
August 6, 2020	45244	354	930	3	32430	11884	7
August 5, 2020	44890	457	927	17	32165	11798	7
August 4, 2020	44433	304	910	14	31851	11672	7
August 3, 2020	44129	288	896	8	20663	22570	7
August 2, 2020	43841	304	888	5	20308	22645	7
August 1, 2020	43537	386	883	4	20287	22567	7
July 31, 2020	43151	462	879	1	19565	22707	7
July 30, 2020	42689	481	878	5	19270	22541	7
July 29, 2020	42208	404	873	5	19004	22331	7
July 28, 2020	41804	624	868	8	18764	22172	7
July 27, 2020	41180	648	860	2	18203	22117	7
July 26, 2020	40532	555	858	2	17374	22300	7
July 25, 2020	39977	438	856	11	16948	22173	7
July 24, 2020	39539	591	845	12	16559	22135	7
July 23, 2020	38948	604	833	20	16061	22054	7
July 22, 2020	38344	543	813	8	15815	21716	7
July 21, 2020	37801	576	805	4	15677	21319	7
July 20, 2020	37225	562	801	12	15333	21091	7
July 19, 2020	36663	556	789	11	15105	20769	7
July 18, 2020	36107	653	778	6	14938	20391	7
July 17, 2020	35454	600	772	3	14633	20049	7
July 16, 2020	34854	595	769	9	14292	19793	7
July 15, 2020	34259	643	760	6	13999	19500	7
July 14, 2020	33616	463	754	10	13792	19070	7
July 13, 2020	33153	595	744	4	13671	18738	7
July 12, 2020	32558	571	740	16	13447	18371	7
July 11, 2020	31987	664	724	15	13103	18160	7
July 10, 2020	31323	575	709	20	12795	17819	7
July 9, 2020	30748	499	689	5	12546	17513	7
July 8, 2020	30249	460	684	15	12373	17192	7
July 7, 2020	29789	503	669	15	12108	17012	7
July 6, 2020	29286	575	654	9	11828	16804	7
July 5, 2020	28711	544	645	11	11665	16401	7
July 4, 2020	28167	603	634	6	11462	16071	7
July 3, 2020	27564	454	628	12	11069	15867	7
July 2, 2020	27110	626	616	13	10801	15693	7
July 1, 2020	26484	790	603	13	10152	15729	7
June 30, 2020	25694	561	590	17	9746	15358	7
June 29, 2020	25133	566	573	8	9402	15158	7
June 28, 2020	24867	490	565	7	9007	14995	7
June 27, 2020	24077	779	558	4	8625	14894	7
June 26, 2020	23298	684	554	5	8253	14491	7
June 25, 2020	22614	594	549	7	7822	14243	7
June 24, 2020	22020	649	542	9	7613	13865	7
June 23, 2020	21371	452	533	8	7338	13500	7
June 22, 2020	20919	675	525	7	7109	13285	7
June 21, 2020	20242	436	518	12	6879	12847	7
June 20, 2020	19808	661	506	19	6718	12584	7
June 19, 2020	19147	667	487	12	6581	12079	7
June 18, 2020	18480	745	475	6	6307	11698	7
June 17, 2020	17735	587	469	14	5967	11299	7
June 16, 2020	17148	490	455	31	5623	11070	7
June 15, 2020	16658	573	424	4	5349	10885	7
June 14, 2020	16085	403	420	13	5220	10445	7
June 13, 2020	15682	501	407	8	5101	10174	7
June 12, 2020	15181	627	399	12	4891	9891	7
June 11, 2020	14554	681	387	5	4494	9673	7
June 10, 2020	13873	409	382	17	4351	9140	7
June 9, 2020	13464	663	365	4	4206	8893	7
June 8, 2020	12801	315	361	7	4040	8400	7
June 7, 2020	12486	260	354	12	3959	8173	7
June 6, 2020	12233	389	342	9	3826	8065	7
June 5, 2020	11844	328	333	10	3696	7815	7
June 4, 2020	11516	350	323	8	3535	7646	7
June 3, 2020	11166	348	315	1	3329	7522	7
June 2, 2020	10819	241	314	15	3239	7266	7
June 1, 2020	10578	416	299	12	3122	7157	9
May 31, 2020	10162	307	287	14	3007	6868	7
May 30, 2020	9855	553	273	12	2856	6726	7
May 29, 2020	9302	387	261	2	2697	6344	7
May 28, 2020	8915	182	259	5	2592	6064	7
May 27, 2020	8733	389	254	5	2501	5978	7
May 26, 2020	8344	276	249	16	2385	5710	7
May 25, 2020	8068	229	233	7	2311	5524	7
May 24, 2020	7839	313	226	5	2263	5360	7
May 23, 2020	7526	265	221	0	2174	5131	7
May 22, 2020	7261	245	221	10	2007	5033	7
May 21, 2020	7016	339	211	11	1907	4898	7
May 20, 2020	6677	284	200	8	1840	4637	7
May 19, 2020	6401	226	192	1	1734	4475	7
May 18, 2020	6175	216	191	9	1644	4340	7
May 17, 2020	5959	388	182	6	1594	4183	7
May 16, 2020	5621	176	176	5	1472	3973	7
May 15, 2020	5445	288	171	3	1320	3954	4
May 14, 2020	5162	193	168	3	1180	3815	4
May 13, 2020	4971	184	164	6	1070	3737	4
May 12, 2020	4787	146	158	6	959	3670	4
May 11, 2020	4641	242	152	10	902	3589	4
May 10, 2020	4399	248	142	17	778	3479	4
May 9, 2020	4151	239	127	11	745	3278	4
May 8, 2020	3912	386	118	10	679	3115	4
May 7, 2020	3526	381	108	4	601	2818	4
May 6, 2020	3145	195	104	5	534	2507	1
May 5, 2020	2950	148	99	5	481	2370	4
May 4, 2020	2802	245	94	6	417	2291	2
May 3, 2020	2558	170	88	2	400	2070	2
May 2, 2020	2388	220	86	17	351	1952	2
May 1, 2020	2170	238	69	10	351	1751	2
April 30, 2020	1932	204	59	7	317	1556	2
April 29, 2020	1728	196	52	7	307	1369	2
April 28, 2020	1532	195	45	4	255	1232	2
April 27, 2020	1337	64	41	0	255	994	2
April 26, 2020	1273	91	41	5	239	994	2
April 25, 2020	1182	87	36	3	222	925	2
April 24, 2020	1095	114	33	1	208	855	2
April 23, 2020	981	108	32	3	197	753	2
April 22, 2020	873	91	29	3	197	648	2
April 21, 2020	782	117	26	3	197	560	2
April 20, 2020	665	38	23	1	188	466	2
April 19, 2020	627	86	22	2	170	436	2
April 18, 2020	541	48	20	2	166	356	2
April 17, 2020	493	51	18	4	159	317	2
April 16, 2020	442	35	13	1	152	277	2
April 15, 2020	407	34	12	1	128	267	2
April 14, 2020	373	30	11	1	99	263	2
April 13, 2020	343	20	10	0	91	242	2
April 12, 2020	323	5	10	0	85	228	2
April 11, 2020	318	13	10	3	70	238	2
April 10, 2020	305	17	7	0	58	240	2
April 9, 2020	288	14	7	1	51	230	2
April 8, 2020	274	22	6	0	44	226	2
April 7, 2020	254	16	6	1	44	204	2
April 6, 2020	238	6	5	0	35	198	2
April 5, 2020	232	18	5	1	33	194	2
April 4, 2020	214	5	4	0	25	185	0
April 3, 2020	209	25	4	2	25	180	0
April 2, 2020	184	10	2	0	20	162	0
April 1, 2020	174	35	2	0	9	163	0
March 31, 2020	139	8	2	0	9	128	0
March 30, 2020	131	20	2	1	8	121	0
March 29, 2020	111	22	1	0	3	107	0
March 28, 2020	89	19	1	0	3	85	0
March 27, 2020	70	5	1	0	3	66	0
March 26, 2020	65	14	1	0	2	62	0
March 25, 2020	51	7	1	0	2	48	0
March 24, 2020	44	4	1	0	2	41	0
March 23, 2020	40	10	1	1	2	37	0
March 22, 2020	30	8	0	0	2	28	0
March 21, 2020	22	10	0	0	1	21	0
March 20, 2020	12	4	0	0	1	11	0
March 19, 2020	8	0	0	0	1	7	0
March 18, 2020	8	5	0	0	1	7	0
March 17, 2020	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
March 16, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 15, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 14, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 13, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 12, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 11, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 10, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 9, 2020	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
March 8, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 7, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 6, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 5, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 4, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 3, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 2, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 1, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 29, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 28, 2020	1	1	0	0	0	1	0