….Threatens legal actions
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given a 48-hour deadline to the Federal Government (FG) to withdraw the 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy imposed on Nigerians.
SERAP gave the ultimatum according to a statement on Tuesday on its official X handle, in reaction to the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) directives to commercial banks and other financial institutions to start charging cybersecurity levy.
The CBN on Monday ordered banks to charge the cybersecurity levy on Nigerians for online transactions two weeks from now.
The apex bank, however, exempted 16 listed banking transactions from its new cybersecurity levy.
While making clarifications, the CBN said the levy would be separately “reflected in the customer’s account” as “Cybersecurity Levy” and “applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution.”’
Reacting to the new development, SERAP threatened to sue the Federal Government if what it described as “grossly unlawful” directive by the CBN is not reversed.
The statement read, “The Tinubu administration must immediately withdraw the grossly unlawful CBN directive to implement section 44 of the Cybercrime Act 2024, which imposes a 0.5% ‘cybersecurity levy’ on Nigerians. We’ll see in court if the directive is not withdrawn within 48 hours.’’
