Group warns Buhari’s 5% tax on calls, data will worsen economy, hardship
The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime to shelve the planned 5.5 per cent increase in telecommunication services.
Finance Budget and National Planning Minister Zainab Ahmed, during a stakeholders’ forum, hinted at plans to increase excise duty on telecommunication services from the current 5.5 per cent.
However, NITAD director Yahuza ZakariYa’u, while briefing journalists in Kano, said the increase would bring more hardship to Nigerians. He appealed to Mr Buhari to jettison the proposed increase, asking him to set up the process of developing a national policy on community networks so that communities could address issues of their infrastructure.
“We find this unacceptable as it will not only create more hardship for Nigerians but also more fundamentally undermine the economic recovery of the country. The effect of the proposed increase is to make calls and data more costly in the context in which Nigerians are already paying heavily for this,” Mr ZakariYa’u explained. “Nigeria is one of the countries with a low affordability index as calculated by the Alliance for Affordable Internet.”
The NITAD director also observed that at the moment, less than 45 per cent of Nigerians have access to the full spectrum of telecommunication services, with several others not being able to afford both the cost of access and cost of use.
“This means that more than half of Nigerians are not able to do so for several reasons, chiefly among which is their inability to afford both the cost of access and cost of use. Nigeria does not manufacture telecommunication equipment and devices,” Mr ZakariYa’u stressed.
The finance minister said Mr Buhari’s regime would generate about N160.46 billion from excise duty on telecommunication services in 2023.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, the combined revenue of operators in the GSM, fixed wired, and internet service providers was N3.21 trillion in 2021.
Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, kicked against the attempt to add a five per cent excise duty to telecommunication services. He said that this would bring the total tax telecom consumers pay for telecom services to 12.5 per cent.
He urged the regime to consider taxing other sectors of the economy, not contributing to national development.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Hot news Home top
Lagos court sends #EndSARS protester to Kirikiri over burnt BRT bus
Magistrate M.C. Ayinde did not take the defendant’s plea but ordered that he should be remanded in Kirikiri Correctional center until September 1, pending legal advice.
Anti-Corruption
Ondo mason in court over missing 25 bags of cement
Mr Orogbemi said that the defendant who was employed to work at the building project could not explain how 25 bags of cement were missing.
Opinion
Azu Ishiekwene: On the podium with Tobi Amusan
Nigeria should decide to henceforth do all it can in the short time remaining to nurture and retain every Tobi Amusan out there.
World
China’s military threat continues: Taiwan’s President Ing-Wen
China’s military said it had completed various tasks around Taiwan but would conduct regular patrols
Africa
Odinga, Ruto in neck-and-neck as vote counting continues in Kenya’s presidential election
Mr Chebukati noted that the tallying was being done at three levels namely polling centres, constituencies and at the national stage.
Hot news Home top
Nuclear disaster looms with Russia’s occupation of Zaporizhzhya: Zelensky
He said that Russia is a terrorist state that is holding the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant hostage and using it for blackmail.
