The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday directed banks to start the process of deducting cybersecurity levy to be administered by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

According to a circular sent to commercial banks, mobile money operators, payment service providers, and others, the deduction of the cybersecurity levy is a sequel to the enactment of the 2024 Cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) amendment Act of 2024 which provides for a 0.5% deduction of the value of all electronic transactions to the National Cyber Security Fund which would be administered by the office of the NSA.

While the levy is to be charged on all electronic transactions and applied at the point of transfer origination, the CBN in an appendix to the circular, listed 16 transactions exempted from the levy. According to the banking regulator, these transactions include:

1. Loan disbursements and repayments.

2. Salary payments.

3. Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer.

4. Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.

5. Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) instructions to their correspondent

6. Banks Interbank placements

7. Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa

8. Inter-branch transfers within a bank

9. Cheques clearing and settlements.

10. Letters of Credits (LCs).

11. Banks’ recapitalization-related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts.

12. Savings and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.

13. Government Social Welfare Programs transactions e.g. Pension payments.

14. Non-profit and charitable transactions including donations to registered nonprofit organizations or charities.

15. Educational Institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions.

16. Transactions involving the bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts

What Nigerians are saying

Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the announcement of the cybersecurity levy. Although the levy has been in the Cybercrime Act 2015, which was amended this year but not implemented until now, Nigerians are saying the timing is wrong.


Reacting to the announcement via a post on the social media platform, X, the Founder and CEO of House of Lunettes, Mr. Akin Olaoye, said:

“A ‘Cybersecurity Tax’ to fund the NSA whose expenditures aren’t audited is highly misguided. Where Inflation and a bad economy are causing hardships, making it a wrong time to impose new taxes on Nigerians.”
A serial tech entrepreneur, Mr. Victor Asemota, said it would have been better for the government to allow telecom operators to increase their tariffs, which would yield more taxes, than introducing the cybersecurity levy.

“The government is raising their taxes but telling telcos not to raise their tariff. Wouldn’t they make more money taxing a telco price increase than this meaningless fee?” he said.
Also reacting to the levy, another X user identified as Uncle Jay, wrote:

“The 0.50% charge is too much and stupendous. Imagine paying a whopping N25,000.00 for a N5 million transaction. That is too much. If they wanted this Cybersecurity fee, they could have made it a flat fee of 2 naira only for transactions from N10k and above.”

Source: https://nairametrics.com/2024/05/07/here-are-16-transaction-types-exempted-from-cbns-cybersecurity-levy/

The day we adopt the communist ways of government that is the day that this country will start developing rapidly

Its to just do transactions with people with same bank as you.

Open accounts with different common banks, transfer from one account of yours to another based on the third party’s bank, then transfer.

3 & 4 does this.
No time for cybersecurity levy.

Taxes here and there,,without putting the common man into reasonable considerations.What about the low income earners causing more hardship to already tense economic situation

Its like raping the mum and daughter and setting the father free

This tax is ill-timed, most Nigerians can bearly feed with the little money they have and here you are putting another yoke on their burdens.

The government should try to be sensitive to the sufferings of its people.

ayoolataiwo:
Taxes here and there,,without putting the common man into reasonable considerations.What about the low income earners causing more hardship to already tense economic situation

This will definitely cause bank segregation by banking customers .

some banks which lack popularity will suffer this.

A write up from David Hundeyin....

"I left the UK and returned to Nigeria to start my career in March 2013. Most of the Nigerian international students I went to uni with had already returned since 2012.

Nearly all of us who came back started planning to escape from Nigeria in 2016. There was only one thing that changed in Nigeria between 2013 and 2016. We know what or who it was.

But yeah, "GEJ was a terrible president." If you keep repeating it to yourself 9 years later, despite being mocked by all the data in existence, that will somehow make it true 👍🏿

Me, I don't care who has any investment in maintaining this gigantic untruth because none of you feeds me, and I will speak freely - "GEJ must go" was a foreign intelligence operation run out of Washington DC by the US State Department, whose doctrine interpreted Nigeria's economic growth and growing partnership with China as a strategic threat to American economic and military interests on the continent.

The Obama administration repeatedly interfered very directly and blatantly in that election cycle. Barack Obama recorded and posted a video urging Nigerians to "vote for the next chapter." Michelle Obama involved herself in #BringBackOurGirls, which was itself merely the 'Big Idea' within the larger marketing campaign that was "Jonathan must go." John Kerry travelled to Nigeria and met with the opposition.

The local players on the ground who took part in the marketing and political campaign to oust Goodluck Jonathan and replace him with the Illiterate were merely useful idiots - yes, that includes you reading this with your guilty conscience. If the shoe fits, I am definitely referring to you. You were nothing but a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between 2 of the Countries That Actually Matter.

Because you lack wisdom, insight and especially humility, you really thought you were doing something historic by removing an incumbent president - a trick you have not been able to repeat ever since, because the US State Department - which actually runs Nigeria - had no problem with 8 years of The Illiterate, and definitely has no problem with another 8 years of the Drug Dealer whom it actively protects.

You idiots thought that you were empowered, politically awakened people, when you were just chess pieces on a board being pushed around by forces you were too stupid and egotistical to recognise. Now your GDP has effectively HALVED in just 9 years, and a whole generation of high-quality human capital has been lost to the US and its allies.

And they didn't bring back your girls!

Stupid f**ks. # DAVID HUNDEYIN

Ok

Ogun go soon kee Ribadu

All these exemptions are mainly geared towards exempting the government itself from paying those charges, if you look at most of the list there, because how can the system differentiate salaries being paid by a private school or private company with few workers.

2Radii:
Exactly wat I was telling my friend yesterday..

I tried to explain during the election the type of person Tinubu was, you refused to listen to me..

I kept on saying you people don't know the type of person you are supporting...

masterfactor:
The day we adopt the communist ways of government that is the day that this country will start developing rapidly

After supporting nonsense into office, now that the nonsense is not making sense, you are asking for a different type of government as if that will change the nonsense you guys might keep supporting....

Nigerians are docile people, they a fuuuulis people, they complain a lot but take no action.

Next election, you will all come out of your homes vote and defend your votes, you will not let one criminal grab and run away with your votes.

Nonsense, until you people start having sense in this country. Everybody should shuuuut upp and pay the Cyberspace nonsense levy.

Otherwise, how on earth should Nigerians end up with such a wicked and heartless man as President?

Elections have consequences, stop sitting and observing elections from your homes.

Hmm

Open savings account in every bank.

jahsharon:
Ogun go soon kee Ribadu

With heavy dose of small pox!

99thEnemy:

This will definitely cause bank segregation by banking customers .

some banks which lack popularity will suffer this.

Exactly wat I was telling my friend yesterday..

We are Scammed already

99thEnemy:
Its to just do transactions with people with same bank as you.

Open accounts with different common banks, transfer from one account of yours to another based on the third party’s bank, then transfer.

3 & 4 does this.
No time for cybersecurity levy.

In case you missed this point please read it again and implement it cos Tinubu's fraudulent government is hellbent on crippling Nigerians. Tinubu's philosophy is to weaponise poverty as a tool of controlling the masses

Can someone help translate this thread into layman English?

LandMann:


In case you missed this point please read it again and implement it cos Tinubu's fraudulent government is hellbent on crippling Nigerians. Tinubu's philosophy is to weaponise poverty as a tool of controlling the masses

.

One day, you will hear that a fooo embezzled this funds

Tinubu regime = ARMED ROBBERS.

Make dem kuku add Air breathing and farm development levy join.
Bunch of theives.

APC government wants more funds for the president to tour more country during Tinubu tenure! Very wicked people

Will this apply to Opay?

The cocaine-sniffing pee-dispensing Senile basta.rd is out for blood!

There

To bypass the levy, just do only same bank transfer.

Lol.

As bad as people thought GEJ was, his administration still witnessed the greatest time for the purchasing power of the common man.

OBJ was in a class of his own. Breaking grounds without breaking backs.

Yaradua was a stabiliser, humane and commonsensical leader. No airs, no fuss, no muss. Just quietly going about his job the best way he could.

All these before some selfish individuals decided to destroy everything.

MemphitzDgreat1:
A write up from David Hundeyin....

"I left the UK and returned to Nigeria to start my career in March 2013. Most of the Nigerian international students I went to uni with had already returned since 2012.

Nearly all of us who came back started planning to escape from Nigeria in 2016. There was only one thing that changed in Nigeria between 2013 and 2016. We know what or who it was.

But yeah, "GEJ was a terrible president." If you keep repeating it to yourself 9 years later, despite being mocked by all the data in existence, that will somehow make it true 👍🏿

Me, I don't care who has any investment in maintaining this gigantic untruth because none of you feeds me, and I will speak freely - "GEJ must go" was a foreign intelligence operation run out of Washington DC by the US State Department, whose doctrine interpreted Nigeria's economic growth and growing partnership with China as a strategic threat to American economic and military interests on the continent.

The Obama administration repeatedly interfered very directly and blatantly in that election cycle. Barack Obama recorded and posted a video urging Nigerians to "vote for the next chapter." Michelle Obama involved herself in #BringBackOurGirls, which was itself merely the 'Big Idea' within the larger marketing campaign that was "Jonathan must go." John Kerry travelled to Nigeria and met with the opposition.

The local players on the ground who took part in the marketing and political campaign to oust Goodluck Jonathan and replace him with the Illiterate were merely useful idiots - yes, that includes you reading this with your guilty conscience. If the shoe fits, I am definitely referring to you. You were nothing but a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between 2 of the Countries That Actually Matter.

Because you lack wisdom, insight and especially humility, you really thought you were doing something historic by removing an incumbent president - a trick you have not been able to repeat ever since, because the US State Department - which actually runs Nigeria - had no problem with 8 years of The Illiterate, and definitely has no problem with another 8 years of the Drug Dealer whom it actively protects.

You idiots thought that you were empowered, politically awakened people, when you were just chess pieces on a board being pushed around by forces you were too stupid and egotistical to recognise. Now your GDP has effectively HALVED in just 9 years, and a whole generation of high-quality human capital has been lost to the US and its allies.

And they didn't bring back your girls!

Stupid bleeps. # DAVID HUNDEYIN

This is public knowledge. Only urchinns think otherwise.

Brendaniel:
All these exemptions are mainly geared towards exempting the government itself from paying those charges, if you look at most of the list there, because how can the system differentiate salaries being paid by a private school or private company with few workers.

Exactly.

In reality, it just excludes the government and financial partners from paying that tax.

In reality, the exemptions are cosmetic.

When you collect loan, you will still spend it on something & pay the tax.

When you collect salary, you will still spend it on something else & pay the tax.

When you collect contracts from government, you will still spend it on something else & pay the tax.

Anyway, it is what Nigerians deserve.

masterfactor:
The day we adopt the communist ways of government that is the day that this country will start developing rapidly

How? Please explain.

MemphitzDgreat1:
A write up from David Hundeyin....

"I left the UK and returned to Nigeria to start my career in March 2013. Most of the Nigerian international students I went to uni with had already returned since 2012.

Nearly all of us who came back started planning to escape from Nigeria in 2016. There was only one thing that changed in Nigeria between 2013 and 2016. We know what or who it was.

But yeah, "GEJ was a terrible president." If you keep repeating it to yourself 9 years later, despite being mocked by all the data in existence, that will somehow make it true 👍🏿

Me, I don't care who has any investment in maintaining this gigantic untruth because none of you feeds me, and I will speak freely - "GEJ must go" was a foreign intelligence operation run out of Washington DC by the US State Department, whose doctrine interpreted Nigeria's economic growth and growing partnership with China as a strategic threat to American economic and military interests on the continent.

The Obama administration repeatedly interfered very directly and blatantly in that election cycle. Barack Obama recorded and posted a video urging Nigerians to "vote for the next chapter." Michelle Obama involved herself in #BringBackOurGirls, which was itself merely the 'Big Idea' within the larger marketing campaign that was "Jonathan must go." John Kerry travelled to Nigeria and met with the opposition.

The local players on the ground who took part in the marketing and political campaign to oust Goodluck Jonathan and replace him with the Illiterate were merely useful idiots - yes, that includes you reading this with your guilty conscience. If the shoe fits, I am definitely referring to you. You were nothing but a pawn in a geopolitical tussle between 2 of the Countries That Actually Matter.

Because you lack wisdom, insight and especially humility, you really thought you were doing something historic by removing an incumbent president - a trick you have not been able to repeat ever since, because the US State Department - which actually runs Nigeria - had no problem with 8 years of The Illiterate, and definitely has no problem with another 8 years of the Drug Dealer whom it actively protects.

You idiots thought that you were empowered, politically awakened people, when you were just chess pieces on a board being pushed around by forces you were too stupid and egotistical to recognise. Now your GDP has effectively HALVED in just 9 years, and a whole generation of high-quality human capital has been lost to the US and its allies.

And they didn't bring back your girls!

Stupid bleeps. # DAVID HUNDEYIN

Stupid psychotic assertion..... No evidence, made up crap from your empty head....

Wahala