Meet the scintillating, quitessential female young lawyer whose suit against the Central Bank of Nigeria , Attorney General of Federation, instigated the outright stoppage of the N50 POS charges being paid by consumers.
A Delta-based lawyer, Ms Vivian Onukwufor had urged the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta state to declare unconstitutional the imposition of the N50 stamp duty on every POS transaction from N1000 charges by the Central Bank of Nigeria and 7 others.
The suit which was filed in November 2019 had challenged the CBN, AGF and banks involved, rain oil filling station over the imposition of the N50 stamp duty charge on POS transaction .
The suit sought a declaration that the sum of N50 imposed or authorised by the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th defendants and actually charged by the 2nd, 4th and 6th defendants on the plaintiff as stamp duty for every POS transaction of N1000(One Thousand Naira) and above is arbitrary, reckless, irregular, unconstitutional, illegal and unlawful and that same constitute an abuse of powers by and or ultra vires of the 1st and 8th defendants and therefore null and void and of no effect.
According to her she said the stoppage and/or a better clarification of who bears the burden of such payment was the most important achievement for her. She enjoined activist to be patient with the Government rather than fight it at all times. She said;
Nigerians where never aware that the N50 naira Stamp Duty on POS transaction as stated in the circular released on September 17th, 2019 by the CBN was not meant to be paid by them (consumers) but by merchants. But who is fooling who? Assuming that the merchants bears the burden of the stamp duty charge on POS transaction, wouldn’t that cause an increase in price of commodities? Where does the CBN expect the merchants to get that amount to remit to them for EVERY POS transaction, if not from that consumer still.
Nigerians spoke out, meetings were held yet there was silence everywhere. No clarification. Nigerians were still paying this charge boldly written by merchants upon payment of goods at the counter by the consumer. We decided that the only way the Govt would come out openly to properly explain who bears the burden of the payment is by filing a suit against the CBN.
with this exposition by the CBN which was necessary, we are aware that some of these merchants who could not pass this 50 Naira stamp duty to customers on checkout, reviewed their already reviewed prices, increased their goods to reflect this payment. This would also create more hardship for Nigerians as they are by implication paying silently
And we are happy that the CBN has now Officially come out to explain to Nigerians and of course the merchants and banks it’s position quoting our words just as it is written in our processes that it is illegal and inappropriate for businesses to pass a stamp duty cost of doing their business to consumers.
Can the CBN cannot dissociate itself from this misunderstanding? Do Banks carry out any action without a proper understanding of the CBN’s directive?
We would definitely keep y’all posted as event unfolds.
Sometimes as an Activist rather than go haywire in your quest to bring the government to listen to you, there are legal means to draw the attention of the government which would legally push the government to do the needful.
In all, we urge Nigerians to do things the legal way. It pays more in the end. We hope for a better win in court. And we shall keep you posted.
Well, she is not your regular lawyer, looking super ‘lawyerish’. She has her own way of life of playing her activism. She is playful, kind hearted. She is no other than the multi-talented, philanthropist, indigent inmate savior ( through the NGO she belongs) Vivian Onukwufor esq.
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