May 14, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to stop the implementation of a 0.5% cybersecurity levy on electronic transactions.
THEWILL earlier reported that the apex bank had in a circular, dated May 6, 2024, directed all banks as well as other Financial Institutions and Payments Service Providers in the country, to collect and remit 0.5% of all electronic transactions as National Cybersecurity Levy.
While the directive has since generated public outrage, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, told the State House correspondents on Tuesday, after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), that the President instructed the CBN to pause the enforcement and reassess the methods for its application.
THEWILL recalls that the House of Representatives, had directed the CBN to withdraw the ambiguous circular in existence and issue an unequivocal circular in line with the letters and spirit of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act, 2024.
While the Green Chamber mandated its Committees on Banking Regulations and Banking and other Ancillary Institutions to guide the CBN properly, the lawmakers argued that unless immediate pragmatic steps are taken to halt the implementation, the Cybercrime Act shall be implemented in error at a time when Nigerians are experiencing the aftermath of multiple removal of subsidies from petroleum, electricity and others, amid the rising inflation.
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