At its plenary today May 9, the House said
the circular by the CBN was prone to misinterpretation by Nigerians as it
negates the spirit and letters of section 44(2a) of the cybercrime Act which
specify those who are expected to pay the levy. The house adopted a motion of
urgent public importance moved by Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP,
Rivers) on behalf of the entire lawmakers.
The House asked the Central Bank to
immediately withdraw its earlier circular on the implementation of the levy and
issue a more under stable one.
Chinda argued that section 44(2a) of the
cybercrime act listed those to pay the stipulated fees as GSM and telecom
companies, Internet providers, Banks and other financial institutions,
insurance companies and Stocks Exchange.
He explained that the circular from the CBN
has raised apprehension across the country as it has given the impression that
the levy is to be paid by Nigerians in an era when they are still battling with
increase in price of petroleum products among others.
The apex bank in a circular dated May 6,
2024 ordered all commercial, merchant,
non-interest and payment service banks as well as mobile money operators and
payment service providers to start charging 0.5% cybersecurity levy on some
transactions done by their customers. The apex bank said the new levy,
expected to kick off in two weeks time, will not be applied on transactions
such as loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account
transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same
customer, intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.
0 Comments