The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed banks operating in the country to commence charging a cybersecurity levy on transactions, according to a circular issued by the apex bank on Monday. The implementation of this levy will commence two weeks from today.
The circular, directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others, follows up on earlier letters dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), regarding compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.
However, certain transactions are exempted from this levy, including 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, inter-branch transfers within a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, Letters of Credits, and banks’ recapitalization-related funding, among others.
Social media has seen Nigerians lamenting the new levy, adding to the multiple levies paid for electronic transactions. In this report, PUNCH Online highlights the five other transaction levies and the corresponding deductions on transactions ranging from N1,000 to N1,000,000:
- Cybersecurity Levy:
- N5 on transactions of N1,000
- N50 on transactions of N10,000
- N500 on transactions of N100,000
- N5,000 on transactions of N1,000,000
- N50,000 on transactions of N10,000,000
- Transfer Fee:
- N10 for transactions below N5,000
- N25 for transactions between N5,001 and N50,000
- N50 for transactions above N50,000
- Stamp Duties:
- N50 on transactions between N10,000 and N10,000,000
- Short Messaging Service (SMS):
- N4 per electronic transfer notification (applicable only to customers on eligible electronic transactions)
- Value Added Tax (VAT):
- N0.75 on N10 transfer fee
- N1.875 on N25 transfer fee
- N3.75 on N50 transfer fee
These levies contribute to the overall cost of electronic transactions in Nigeria.