By Shishang John
June 7, 2024
A former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Ayokunle, has asked President Bola Tinubu, to stop multiple taxations by federal and state agencies on hungry Nigerians.
Ayokunle, also a former President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, was a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme held on Friday.
He urged the President to open up the economy of the country and mobilise investment into the agriculture and mining sectors to tap the goldmines locked up in them.
“Let’s delve into other aspects of our economy. Nigeria is rich, let’s explore, not just taxing, taxing. If you tax people, people will die,” he added.
Ayokunle’s response comes after Tinubu’s administration drew the ire of a large section of Nigerians, after introducing new taxes as citizens continue to grapple with the worst cost of living crisis in decades.
In a memo, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last month, ordered all commercial banks to impose a 0.5% levy on some electronic transactions. The fund is supposed to be transmitted to the office of the National Security Adviser for cyber security. The levy was imposed on the initiator of the transaction and not the receiver.
“The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, Cybersecurity Levy,” the memo read, adding that it was in line with the new cybercrime law signed by the President in February.
The directive, however, listed 16 exemptions. A bank transfer between two customers of the same bank will not incur the levy. A transfer of funds by an account holder to another one of his accounts in another bank will not be charged.
Other exemptions include: loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, other financial Institutions’ instructions to their correspondent banks, interbank placements, banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa, inter-branch transfers within a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, and others.
There is the stamp duty, the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) charge, and the Value Added Tax. This is apart from the charges imposed by banks like the maintenance fee and the SMS charges.
The increasing taxes come after the President in July last year, signed four executive orders to curb multiple taxation.
One of the key executive orders signed by Tinubu involved the suspension of the 5 per cent excise tax on telecommunication services, as well as the escalation of excise duties on locally manufactured products.
Also in May, the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, said it would transmit its policy recommendations on taxes to the National Assembly by the end of Q3 2024.
These include new National Tax and Borrowing Policies to be implemented in September and new proposals to amend the Constitution, which would take effect from 2025.
“We’re at a point now where we’re drafting the laws, including possible amendments to the Constitution. We envisage that by quarter three, our documents will be ready to go to the National Assembly and by the end of that Q3, we should have them enacted into law,” the Committee’s chairman, Taiwo Oyedele, said after a close-out retreat in Abuja.
Oyedele said the Federal Government would now exempt 95 per cent of the informal sector and focus on the 5 per cent middle class and the elites, insisting that “the days of being above the law in paying taxes are over.”
