Nigeria government apologises for misleading tweets on bank self-certification

TRACKING___Nigeria government on Friday apologised for the misleading information it published about the recent directive on self-certification form.

“We apologize for the misleading tweets (now deleted) that went up yesterday, regarding the completion of self-certification forms by Reportable Persons,” the Nigeria government tweeted on Friday morning.

“The message contained in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) notice does not apply to everybody.”

The government drew the ire of Nigerians on Thursday when it announced that all account owners in financial institutions must register and submit a self-certification form or risk forfeiture of their bank accounts.

“Failure to comply with the requirement to administer or execute this form attracts sanctions which may include monetary penalty or inability to operate the account,” FIRS chairman Muhammad Nami said in a circular posted by the Nigerian government on Thursday.

Nami explained that “the forms are required by the relevant financial institutions to carry out due diligence procedures in line with the Income Tax Regulations 2019.”

The FIRS boss noted that self-certification form is in 3 categories- form for entity, for controlling person (individuals having a controlling interest in a legal person, trustee, etc) and form for individual holders of bank accounts.

Although the directive has been deleted, the government said the “FIRS will issue appropriate clarification shortly” as at Friday morning.

The government’s apology came after Nigerians condemned the directive they claim was ill-conceived by the authorities.