The cybersecurity levy on electronic banking transactions has been suspended by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, as he confessed he feels the pain of Nigerians.
After the deliberation by the members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, disclosed that President Bola Tinubu had suspended the cybersecurity levy.
This information related to the FEC was presented on Tuesday, May 14th, at the state house in FCT Abuja.
The cybersecurity levy was discussed during the FEC meeting, and the president opened up about being able to feel the pain of Nigerians.
Remember, the Central Bank of Nigeria released a circular on the cybersecurity levy of 0.5 per cent deduction on electronic transfers on May 6, 2024.
The circular was released and addressed to all banks in Nigeria by the director of Payment Services, Uzoma Efobi.
Indicating that the deductions will begin “from the next two weeks after the 6th of May.”
Because of this imposed levy, the House of Representatives convened and asked the CBN to suspend the order at first, which brought about a lot of contention.
They passed the resolution for CBN to withdraw the directive following the adoption of a motion by Kingsley Chinda and 359 other lawmakers.
The resolution for the CBN to redraw the directive was passed following the motion by Kingsley Chinda and 359 of the other lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
“This act has led to apprehension as civil society organisations and citizens have taken to conventional and social media to call out the federal government, give ultimatums for a reversal of the ‘imposed levy on Nigerians’ among other things,” Chinda said.
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), on compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015 followed the circular.
In the circular, it was indicated that “Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 and under the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, a levy of 0.5 per cent (0.005) equivalent to a half per cent of all electronic transactions valued by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund, which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser.”
In CBN words, they emphasised that when the levy is deducted, it will be reflected on the customer’s account with the ‘Cybersecurity Levy’ as an indication.
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