Take, don't kill me
CBN reimplements controversial policy after suspending it months ago
Good morning, Big Brains. It’s going to be a pretty day for me, I can tell. There’s something about talking about CBN’s BS that just gets me excited. Find all the tea we have on your favourite finance bros!
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
CBN reimplements controversial cybersecurity levy
Kogi ex-governor wanted for $720,000 theft attempts to clear name
Banks face CBN fines for delay in customer complaints
The Big Deal
CBN reimplements controversial cybersecurity levy
You know those moments when someone lets go of something and it comes off as “take, don’t kill me?” Well, that was what the Central Bank of Nigeria did to the entire country.
Remember the famous 0.5% cybersecurity levy that caused a stir across the country? If this levy hadn’t been suspended, Nigerians would have had to pay ₦5 for every transferred ₦1000, ₦500 for ₦100,000, and ₦5,000 for ₦1,000,000.
This levy was suspended but long story short, it’s back again (should we say sneakily?). But this time, it’s back to 0.005% on all electronic transactions.
In its new guidelines for 2024-2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirms that banks and financial institutions must take the levy from all electronic transactions. The money collected will go into a fund to help protect Nigeria’s banking system from cyberattacks.
Why is this a big deal?
We’d give CBN a cookie for the reduction but it should never have been set at 0.5% in the first place. While the reduction lessens the burden on the pocket of Nigerians, it’s still a burden.
For context, the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act has existed since 2015 but hasn't been enforced due to loopholes, leading to an amended version in 2024. The introduction of a 0.5% levy in this amendment sparked controversy, prompting the president to suspend it.
Key elements of the Act include protecting essential national information systems and establishing a Cybercrime Advisory Council. Section 44 creates a National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), with Section 44(2a) stating that the levy on electronic transactions will help fund this NCF.
Again, the reduction is cool and all but there are still some questions around the legality of this Act according to the Nigerian constitution.
Section 162 of the Constitution states that the Federation must maintain a special account called the "Federation Account," where all government revenues are deposited, except for personal income tax from military personnel, the police, the Foreign Affairs department, and residents of Abuja.
The need to pay the levy to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), managed by the National Security Adviser (NSA), seems to clash with what the Constitution allows.
If you haven’t clocked it yet, this levy shouldn’t be implemented until it is amended to work in line with the Constitution.
Nigerians shouldn’t be forced to pay for something that is still all over the place, especially when the cost of living is still killing the living. What happened to letting the poor breathe?
Kogi ex-governor wanted for $720,000 theft attempts to clear name
“All rise!” Big Brains, the court is going to be in session soon because the former governor of Kogi State Yahaya Bello has finally honoured the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
What did he do?
If you’re not familiar with the Yahaya Bello vs EFCC drama, you’re either a new reader or just someone who lives under a rock. Glad you’ve finally seen the light!
In May, the EFCC chairman accused Bello of moving $720,000 out of Kogi State’s resources to a Bureau De Change operator to pay for his child’s education in advance – and we’re only quoting the EFCC Chairman here: “because he knew he was going”.
Since then, the ex-governor has been everywhere except EFCC’s office and the courtroom.
What changed?
Conscience? Salvation? We’re not sure but after months of merry-go-rounding, Yahaya Bello has finally decided to honour EFCC’s invitation.
A statement released by his media team mentioned that Bello was only seeking “the enforcement of his fundamental rights to ensure due process.” It also mentions that Bello has nothing to hide, the man just wants to clear his good old name. The details are still sketchy but we’ll let you know if or when he clears that “good” name.
Bello isn’t the first Nigerian governor to be accused of corruption-related charges. Ex-governors like Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Sullivan Chime of Enugu were arraigned for mismanagement of funds worth billions but they’ve still not smelt the metal rods of Nigerian prison. We can predict the end of the $720,000 school fees drama but we’ll keep the spoilers while we wait to see how FG handles the case.
Banks face CBN fines for delay in customer complaints
We know the finance guys at CBN are having an “I’m trending, I don’t know why” moment this morning.
When they’re not cooking up new ways to tax the poor, CBN is watching out for bank customers (and their own pockets too, of course).
The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a warning about delays in handling customer complaints to commercial banks and financial institutions. Banks that don’t resolve customer issues, especially Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions, within 72 hours will now face a ₦100,000 fine.
The CBN has made it clear that banks that don’t respond to customer or CBN inquiries about ATM complaints in time will be hit with that daily fine. And if a customer's ATM transaction fails and the bank refuses to initiate an automatic reversal? They’ll not only have to refund the customer but also cough up an extra ₦50,000 per day until it’s sorted.
They also sprinkled some other clauses. If banks can’t provide camera footage for disputed ATM transactions, they’ll face another penalty and if there’s no surveillance camera where their ATM is? Another nasty fine of ₦250,000, plus a daily ₦50,000 charge until a camera is installed.
Safe to say that CBN is serious about boosting accountability (and increasing national moimoi) in the financial sector!
This Week’s Big Question
“Are you interested in voting in 2027, or would you rather not be in Nigeria to see what happens?”
David’s response - “Why are you guys already thinking about 2027? The more I think about how many years we have to wait till the next elections, the more frustrating it gets.”
You can also share your response here and if it’s as interesting as David’s response, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
The Big Picks
Politicians Who Speak Ill Of Nigeria Don’t Deserve To Be President — AGF: The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, has warned politicians who are "demarketing" Nigeria on social media, stating that such individuals are unfit to lead the country.
FG Eyes $1.5bn Revenue From Halal by 2027: Vice President Kashim Shettima announced that Nigeria is embracing the Halal economy and aims to contribute $1.5 billion to the country's GDP by 2027 through this initiative.
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