By Our Reporter
In a revised circular dated 17 May, which was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Monday, the apex bank withdrew its circular to banks and payment service providers to collect and remit the cybersecurity levy as proposed in the Cybercrime Prevention and Prohibition Amendment Act of 2024.
The circular, addressed to commercial banks, payment service providers, non-interest banks, and others, was signed by the bank’s Directors of Payment Systems Management and that of Financial Policy and Regulation, Chibuzor Efobi and Haruna Mustafa respectively.
The circular informed that the previous directive had been withdrawn.
The withdrawal was consequent on the decision of the Federal Executive Council FEC, at its last meeting to suspend the levy based on wide controversy it generated. The council stated that for now, the controversial rate has been put on hold and will be subject to further review.
Part of the directives contained in the CBN’s circular read, “The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.
“Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month.
levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.
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