Nigerian telecommunications consumers may need to tighten their belts in the days ahead as Federal Government has concluded plans to impose 5% Excise Duty on all telecommunications services ranging from calls, SMS and data services. This is coming as major stakeholders in the sector, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) have kicked against the move, describing it as anti-people, provocative, strange, insensitive and irresponsible.
Nigerian telecommunications consumers may need to tighten their belts in the days ahead as Federal Government has concluded plans to impose 5% Excise Duty on all telecommunications services ranging from calls, SMS and data services.
This is coming as major stakeholders in the sector, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) have kicked against the move, describing it as anti-people, provocative, strange, insensitive and irresponsible. They made the position known on Thursday at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC on the proposed implementation of the Exercise Duty on all telecommunications services in Nigeria held in Abuja.
They argued that such imposition would further aggravate the suffering of the Nigerian masses who had already been pushed into hardship and extreme poverty. The new 5% Exercise Duty is part of the new Finance Act signed into law by the President in 2020. It is meant to be collected by the Nigerian Customs Service following the directives of the President Mohammadu Buhari that it should enforce the law on all telecom service providers in the country on all local and foreign goods and services.
In her presentation, the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed urged stakeholders to support the implementation of the 5% exercise duty on telecommunications services, saying that the decision was informed by the dwindling revenue of the Federal government from oil and gas. Zainab, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Tax and Policy, Mr Musa Umar commended the NCC for providing the opportunity to interact with stakeholders and to welcome their inputs in the revenue generation drive. She highlighted that countries in Africa like Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, others have all keyed into this revenue generation pattern.
The minister emphasised that this is needed to change Nigeria’s economic situation for good. “The issue of revenue is not something that need to be shy away from, our revenue can no longer take care of our needs as a country. “Also Nigeria is no longer making enough money in Oil revenue hence the attention is shifting to Non-revenue”.
