|
Listen to article
|
The enforcement of the controversial cybercrime levy at 0.005 percent on all electronic transactions has been confirmed and approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN under its new guidelines for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Apex Bank had made this disclosure in its recently released Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade, and Exchange Policy Guidelines for Fiscal Years 2024-2025.
The development comes after the levy had been purportedly suspended after it sparked debate among Nigerians.
Read Also: Akpabio Denies Approving Request For Presidential Jet
The Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act of 2015, is aimed at bolstering the nation’s cyber security infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the percentage has been reduced from 0.5 percent earlier announced in May 2024 to 0.005 percent in the new guidelines.
CBN reaffirmed its commitment to mandating banks and other financial institutions deduct the levy from all electronic transactions.
The funds collected from this tax go towards a cybersecurity fund that aims to provide support for initiatives protecting Nigeria’s banking system from the increasing risk of cyberattacks.
“The CBN shall continue to enforce the payment of the mandatory levy of 0.005 percent on all electronic transactions by banks and other financial institutions, by Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015″, the document said.
Recall that in a notice in May, the CBN mandated all banks in Nigeria to collect and remit a 0.5 percent cyber security levy to the office of the National Security Adviser.
However, amid outrage over the levy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered its suspension.
