Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, kicked against the newly introduced cyber security levy of 0.5% on every transaction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), News About Nigeria reports.
In a post on his official X account on Wednesday, Peter Obi noted that the cybersecurity levy is part of the many taxes that the federal government is collecting from Nigerians who are struggling to survive the current economic hardship.
He further noted that the new tax is ill-conceived and designed to milk a dying economy.
Obi also queried the modality behind the office of the National Security Adviser collecting the tax.
The former Anambra state governor further noted that at a time like this, the FG’s primary concern should be to look for better ways to bring the economy back to health and growth instead of focusing on collecting multiple taxes from struggling citizens.
Obi’s statement partly reads, “The imposition of a Cybersecurity Levy on bank transactions is particularly sad given that the tax is on the trading capital of businesses and not on their profit hence will further erode whatever is left of their remaining capital, after the impact of the Naira devaluation high inflation rate. Policies such as this not only impoverish the citizens but make the country’s economic environment less competitive.
“At a time when the government should be reducing taxes to curb inflation, the government is instead introducing new taxes. And when did the office of the NSA become a revenue-collecting center?”
