The Federal Government (FG), has disclosed its plan to go ahead with the implementation of the newly-introduced tax on call, data, and other telecom services. This is despite the disapproval of Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance and National Planning on Thursday, July 28, 2022, stated that the Federal Government (FG) would impose the levy on Nigerians, citing the desperate need to supplement the declining oil and gas revenue.
“The issue of revenue is not something that needs to be shied away from, our revenue can no longer take care of our needs as a country. Also, Nigeria is no longer making enough money in oil revenue hence the attention is shifting to non-oil revenue,” Ahmed said as she urged stakeholders to support the implementation of the new excise duty.
Displeased with the new tax on call and data, Pantami said the ministry under his watch is not satisfied with the mounting pressure on Nigerians, adding that stakeholders, including himself, were not consulted before the announcement.
The minister, therefore, pledged to disallow the implementation of the new tax.
However, the Budget Office of the Federation, which is under the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, had revealed its plan in its ‘2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.’
The ministry said in a bid to boost its non-oil revenue streams, it is expecting excise duty revenue to grow exponentially because of the introduction of telecoms service charge.
“Full implementation of excise duty on telecom services, alcoholic, sugar-sweetened beverages, cigarettes and tobacco products.
“Therefore, excise revenue is expected to grow exponentially because of the introduction of the telecom service charge and SSBs,” the office maintained.
