Obi lambast Tinubu over cyber-security levy, decries ‘multiple taxation’

Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has lambasted President Bola Tinubu’s administration for imposing a cyber-security levy on Nigerians, which he considers unjustified given the country’s economic woes.

Obi claimed that the current government is more concerned with milking a dying economy than with nurturing it to recovery and growth.

The former Anambra State governor also chastised Tinubu’s administration for pursuing policies that harmed individuals financially while also undermining the country’s economic competitiveness.

Obi expressed this in a message posted on his X page on Wednesday, questioning when the National Security Adviser will become a revenue collection centre.

The statement read, “The introduction of yet another tax, in the form of the Cybersecurity Levy, on Nigerians who are already suffering severe economic distress is further proof that the government is more interested in milking a dying economy instead of nurturing it to recovery and growth.

“This does not only amount to multiple taxation on banking transactions, which are already subject to various other taxes, including stamp duties, but it also negates the government’s avowed commitment to reduce the number of taxes and streamline the tax system.

“The imposition of a cybersecurity levied on bank transactions is particularly sad given that the tax is on the trading capital of businesses and not on their profit; hence, it will further erode whatever is left of their remaining capital after the impact of the Naira devaluation and high inflation rate.

“At a time when the government should be reducing taxes to curb inflation, the government is instead introducing new taxes. And when did the office of the NSA become a revenue-collecting centre? And why should that purely national security office receive returns on a specific tax as stated in the new cybersecurity law?.”

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