Nigerians may soon begin to pay higher tariffs on calls and data as
the telecommunications companies in the country brace up for a new cyber
security levy to be implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This is coming on the heels of a directive from the CBN to all banks
on the collection of 0.005 per cent levy on all electronic transactions
into a National Cyber Security Fund.
Section 44 of the Cybercrime Prohibition and Prevention Act 2015,
which the CBN seeks to implement, states that “there shall be paid and
credited into the Fund established under subsection (1) of this section
and domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria: a levy of 0.005 per cent
of all electronic transactions by the businesses specified in the second
schedule to this Act.”
Businesses affected by this charge include GSM service providers –
MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile etc. and all telecommunication companies;
Internet service providers; banks and other financial institutions;
insurance companies and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
However, speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, the
President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria
(ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, said the implementation of the levy is
ill-timed, considering the fact that the telecom operators are currently
battling with multiple taxation, which has risen from 26 in 2015 to 38
under the current administration.
“At this point, if the CBN decides to go ahead with the
implementation, we will have no choice but to pass the cost to the
subscribers. Nigerians should be ready to pay more for calls and data
subscriptions,” he said.
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