As Nigerians wonder at the rational behind the Federal Government’s new levy on citizens already overburdened with numerous taxes and charges, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has issued a warning urging the President Bola Tinubu Administration to reverse the 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
SERAP also threatened to deal in legal action against the government if it failed to reverse the levy within a 48-hour timeframe.
The non-governmental organisation stated this Tuesday via its Twitter handle, calling for the immediate reversal of what it regarded as levy ‘imposition’.
SERAP tweep @SERAPNigeria stated, “The Tinubu administration must immediately withdraw the grossly unlawful CBN directive to implement section 44 of the Cybercrime Act 2024, which imposes a 0.5% ‘cybersecurity levy’ on Nigerians.
“We’ll see in court if the directive is not withdrawn within 48 hours.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered banks operating in the country to start charging a cybersecurity levy on transactions.
A circular from the apex bank seen by Punch Online on Monday disclosed that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from then.
The circular was directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, among others.
The circular revealed that it was a follow-up on an earlier letter dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), respectively, on compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.
Below are the current bank transaction taxes in Nigeria.
CYBERSECURITY LEVY: SENDERS now bear;
₦5 on ₦1,000
₦50 on ₦10,000
₦500 on ₦100,000
₦5,000 on ₦1,000,000
₦50,000 on ₦10,000,000
STAMP DUTY: RECEIVERS bear;
₦50 on ₦10,000
₦50 on ₦100,000
₦50 on ₦1,000,000
₦50 on ₦10,000,000
TRANSFER FEES: SENDERS bear;
₦10 on ≤₦5,000
₦25 on ₦5,001 — ₦50,000
₦50 on >₦50,000
VALUE ADDED TAX: SENDERS bear;
₦0.75 on ₦10 Transfer fee
₦1.875 on ₦25 Transfer fee
₦3.75 on ₦50 Transfer fee
SMS FEE: SENDERS & RECEIVERS bear;
₦4 on each electronic transfer notification.
All applicable on eligible electronic transactions.
Credit: Tijani Alabi Fatai
