By Sunday Etuka, Abuja
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has disclosed its plan to take legal action against the Federal Government over the 0.5 percent Cybersecurity Levy imposed on Nigerians, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
CBN on Monday directed all the commercial banks, other financial institutions, and payments Service Providers in the country to commerce the deductions of 0.005 percent from all electronic transactions as National Cybersecurity Levy.
The apex bank in a Circular number: PSM/DlR/PUB/LAB/017/004 signed and issued by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi and Director, Financial Policy and Regulations Department, Haruna Mustafa, directed the banks, and others to remit the levy to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA)”.
CBN, however, exempted the following from the levey: “Loan disbursements and repayments, Salary payments, Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer,
“Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank, Other Financial Institutions (OFls) instructions to their correspondent banks, Interbank placements, Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa, Inter-branch transfers within a bank, Cheques clearing and settlements,
“Letters of Credits (LCS), Banks’ recapitalization related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts, Savings and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
“Government Social Welfare Programs transactions e.g. Pension payments, Non-profit and charitable transactions including donations to registered nonprofit organisations or charities.
“Educational Institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transaction involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions.
“Transactions involving 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”.
Reacting to the development on Tuesday, SERAP said: “We’re preparing court papers to sue the Tinubu administration over the grossly unlawful directive by the CBN imposing a 0.5% ‘cybersecurity levy’ on Nigerians.
“Please let’s know [ASAP] if you would like to join the suit”, it posted on its official X handle.
