Nigeria: Presidency Clarifies Cybersecurity Levy Rate
The Presidency has clarified that the recently introduced cybersecurity levy on all banks and financial services is 0.005%, not 0.5% as previously reported.
Bayo Onanuga, the spokesperson for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made the clarification in a social media post on Tuesday.
Onanuga stated that the levy is in line with the establishment law, and urged the public to disregard the earlier report of 0.5%. The cybersecurity levy is not 0.5% but 0.005%,” he wrote.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had on Monday ordered all banks to collect and remit the cybersecurity levy to the National Security Adviser, citing the enactment of the 2024 Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) law.
As reported by the Daily Post, further analysis of the levy shows that 16 transactions have been exempted, including loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, and intra-account transfers, among others.
However, the introduction of the levy has raised concerns about multiple taxes under the Tinubu administration. The government is also planning to reintroduce the telecommunications tax and other fiscal measures as part of the requirement for a $750 million loan from the World Bank.
