Adeyemi Alimot
The former presidential candidate of Labour party(LP) Peter Obi, condemned the Federal Government’s commencement of a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on all bank transactions.
On Tuesday, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed banks to commence the collection and remittance of a cybersecurity levy on electronic transactions and to be executed by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
Peter obi illustrated the move as woeful imposition on struggling Nigerians, he also argued that the Cyber security Levy contradicted the government’s declared intention to simplify the tax code and reduce on taxes to lessen the impact of Naira depreciation and high inflation rate on the trading capital of businesses.
In his statement on his X handle, the formal presidential candidate flawed the action,questioning when the NSA’s Office turned into a revenue-collection hub.
He furthered mentioned that, the introduction of yet another tax, in the form of Cyber security Levy, on Nigerians who are already suffering severe economic distress is further proof that the government is more interested in milking a dying economy instead of nurturing it to recovery and growth.
This does not only amount to multiple taxation on banking transactions, which are already subject to various other taxes including stamp duties but negates the Government’s avowed commitment to reduce the number of taxes and streamline the tax is system.