Some categories of electronic transactions are excluded from the cybersecurity tax introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On Monday, the financial regulator, via a circular with reference number PSM/DIR/PUB/LAB/017/004, directed all banks and other financial institutions to begin to deduct 0.5 percent charges from electronic transactions effective two weeks after the publication.
The 16 transactions that are free from the tax are listed here:
The list of electronic transactions excluded from the tax.
Many Nigerians have tagged the policy as insensitive to the current economic plights of the population resulting from fuel subsidy removal, the floating of the naira and its consequences on the prices of goods and services.
In a bid to legally challenge the CBN’s policy, the Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP) has indicated its willingness to file a suit in the coming days.
Once the tax is charged from transactions, it will then be pooled together into a CBN account accessible to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).