CCCAI hails suspension of Cybersecurity levy, urges corruption fight
PRESS STATEMENT
The Center for Consumer Concerns and Awareness Initiative (CCAI), a not-for-profit dedicated to consumer protection, has welcomed the decision of President Bola Tinubu to suspend the implementation of the cybersecurity levy. The CCAI notes the President’s directive that the Central Bank of Nigeria should review the modalities for implementing the levy. Regardless of this, and as the Center had earlier expressed, imposing fresh taxes is an overkill on banking consumers, who already have had to endure several bank charges.
We state unequivocally that a fresh tax burden will possibly discourage savings, frustrate the financial inclusion drive, and even undermine the CBN’s ballyhooed cashless policy.
The Center urges the government to take into account current inflation in the economy, as well as the resulting rise in commodity prices, falling household incomes, and rising business costs, which have resulted in an unprecedented number of shutdowns.
As a corollary to the foregoing, we believe that even businesses to which the Cybersecurity levy originally applies, as stated in Section 44 (2)(a) of the Cybersecurity Act 2015, should be spared the trouble, else they will ultimately pass on additional costs to consumers in the form of higher service prices.
Furthermore, based on a multi-jurisdictional comparative assessment of bank charges, the CCCAI discovered that Nigerian banking consumers are among the most taxed in the world, and they are the only ones who may face a cybersecurity tax.
As a result, the Center urges the executive and legislative branches of government to examine the Cybersecurity Act objectively in order to protect suffering banking customers and businesses. We also advise the government to explore alternate financing options, fix resource leaks, and combat widespread corruption at all levels.
