Peter Obi, the former Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has criticized the Federal Government for implementing the cybersecurity levy.
Obi expressed concern that the government is prioritizing revenue generation over efforts to revive and expand the faltering economy.
In a statement released on his social media handle on Wednesday, May 8, he stated: “The introduction of yet another tax, in the form of a Cybersecurity Levy, on Nigerians already under severe economic distress, is further evidence that the government is more interested in extracting revenue from a dying economy rather than nurturing it back to health and growth.
This not only represents multiple taxation on banking transactions, which are already subject to various taxes including stamp duties, but also contradicts the government’s declared commitment to reducing the number of taxes and streamlining the tax system.
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The imposition of a Cybersecurity Levy on bank transactions is particularly disheartening as the tax is levied on the trading capital of businesses, not their profits, which will further diminish their remaining capital after the effects of Naira devaluation and high inflation rates.
At a time when the government should be cutting taxes to combat inflation, it is instead introducing new taxes. Furthermore, it raises the question: Since when did the office of the National Security Advisor become a revenue collection center?
And why should a purely national security office receive returns from a specific tax as outlined in the new cybersecurity law?”
