The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has called on President Bola Tinubu to without delay order the reversal of the Cybersecurity Levy recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The association, according to the National President, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, in a chat with our correspondent today, said the introduction of such a levy at this time is ill-advised and inappropriate, reports Vanguard.
He therefore called for the immediate reversal of the levy, adding that failure to do that would draw the anger of the student population in the country.
“We are opposed to the introduction of the levy. It will simply add to the financial burden already placed on the people who are yoked. We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to call on the Central Bank of Nigeria, the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, to reverse the policy. It is not advisable to start a thing like that at this point in time.
“We don’t want a situation whereby students are forced to go protesting on the streets. How would one explain a situation whereby one would still pay this levy apart from the numerous deductions and payments on bank transactions. We don’t want this one. We call on the President to guide the CBN and the NSA on this matter, ” he said.
Emonefe said steps should be taken to ameliorate the hardship in the country and not aggravate it.
Recall that the government said the new levy, set at 0.5% of the value of all electronic transactions, was in response to the escalating concerns over cyber threats and follows the guidelines of the recently enacted Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024.
According to the CBN, this measure was crucial for enhancing the security framework of financial operations across the country.
Financial institutions will deduct the levy directly from transactions, visible in customers’ account statements as ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.
