By Oluwaseun Sonde
Nigerian Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Ibrahim Pantami has given the reason why he went against the imposition of five percent excise duty by the Federal Government of Nigeria on telecoms services in the country.
Pantami who spoke at the first Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE), 2022 held at the Landmark Centre in Lagos on recently, argued that the Ministry, which oversees the industry, was not consulted and that the timing of such duty in a period of hardship as is being witnessed in Nigeria today is antithetical to the growth of the industry.
The expo was oragnised as part of effort to vigorously pursue the objectives of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (NPPIC), through the National Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS) domiciled in the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)
According to him, "I was not consulted before the decision on five per cent excise duty was reached, and it was unfair to impose such a tax on an industry that was already burdened with other taxes and already contributing about 17 per cent to the country’s revenue".
The Minister told his audience, including the Chairman of the House Committee on Telecommunications, Hon. Akeem Adeniyi Adeyemi, that his position was already shared by the National Assembly which was also not consulted on the issue before it was announced.
“We must do what we need to do to protect the industry. Beyond making our opinions known, we will take legitimate and legal steps to stop any plan against the interest of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry,” he said.
Pantami reaffirmed Federal Government’s determination to reverse the trend of importation of all types of telecommunications products, especially where production in Nigeria is possible.
He emphasised that Government had put efforts towards the protection of the telecom industry, which contributes impressively to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), by insisting on the drastic reduction in the reliance on foreign products.
Pantami, consequently, warned against importation of such products like Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards that can be produced in Nigeria.
Earlier, it was reported that the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, announced the readiness of applying a 5 per cent inclusive excise duty on telecoms services in Nigeria, and Nigerians will soon begin paying a 12.5 per cent tax on those services.
This means that five per cent will be added to the already existing 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on telecoms services as Government increased the Value Added Tax from 5 to 7.5 per cent in 2020. According to Mrs Ahmed, the Finance Act 2020 had a five per cent excise levy that was never put into effect.
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