The Federal Government has disclosed that telecommunications subscribers would pay a 5 percent tax on call, SMS, and data services.
This is coming as the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers(NATCOMS), described the move as strange, insensitive, and irresponsible.
DAILY POST learnt this during a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Stakeholders Forum on the Implementation of Excise Duty on all Telecommunications Services’ held on Thursday in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed urged stakeholders to support the implementation of the 5 percent exercise duty on telecommunications services.
Zainab represented by the Assistant Director, Tax and Policy, Mr Musa Umar appreciated NCC for providing the platform to increase Nigeria’s revenue generation.
She highlighted that countries in Africa like Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and others have all keyed into this revenue generation pattern.
She emphasised that this is needed to change Nigeria’s economic situation for good.
“The issue of revenue is not something that needs to be shied 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”.
She explained that the government is committed towards implementing the regulation in a seamless manner that will not affect Nigerians.
Earlier, in his remark, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta said the forum is necessitated for stakeholders to get better clarifications on the 5% exercise duty on telecom services implementation.
“As the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission has engaged with the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Customs Service, and consultants from the World Bank to get needed clarifications.
