Politics
SOME residents of Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra have reacted to the newly introduced cyber security levy by the Federal Government through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), ordered commercial banks operating in the country to start charging a cybersecurity levy on transactions.
NAN reports that the apex bank had on Monday in a circular disclosed that the implementation of the levy would start from two weeks.
Speaking with NAN in separate interviews, some residents expressed their divergent views, as some said it was a welcome idea, others said that the Federal Government should have waited until the economic challenges were over.
A resident, Mr Moses Chinedu, described the development as a welcome idea, saying that government needed taxes to survive and execute infrastructural development that would benefit the citizens.
According to him, the newly introduced cyber-security levy by the Federal Government is necessary as no government can survive without taxing its citizens.
“The government will make use of the returns from the taxes in executing key infrastructural development that will be beneficial to the mass.
“People may consider this policy as harsh but forgetting that the insecurity experienced across the length and breadth of this country is affecting the economy and government has to look elsewhere to generate funds to carry out projects.
“I want government to continue to monitor the activities as they unfold, banks should not over charge customers for their selfish interest too,” he said.
In her reaction, Miss Favour Okafor, a student of one of the tertiary institutions in the state, alleged that commercial banks were currently charging their customers arbitrarily before now.
“The commercial banks before the introduction of the cybersecurity levy, were charging the customers arbitrarily, we are the people who pay for maintenance of their Automated Teller Machines, E-banking, Short Message Service and card maintenance.
“This new charges to the aforementioned will be a burden on the citizens, government should have a rethink, not even now that the country is going through a lot of challenges,” she said.
On her part, Mrs Agnes Nwokoye, a petty trader, described the development as the one that could force many bank customers to start keeping their money at home, saying that government should consider the poor masses in enacting the policy. (NAN)
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-May 08, 2024 @ 17:10 GMT|
Tags: Central Bank of Nigeria Miss Favour Okafor Mr Moses Chinedu
