Nigerians pay five charges when they use electronic transactions

The Nigerian Central Bank has mandated that banks do business in the nation and impose a transaction fee on cybersecurity.

The apex bank announced on Monday that the implementation of the fee would begin in two weeks through a circular.

The circular was sent, among other banks, to all merchant, payment service, non-interest, and commercial banks.

The circular stated that it was a follow-up on prior correspondence about compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015, dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), respectively.

The highest bank did, however, exempt from the charge loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers for the same client inside the same bank or between different banks, and intra-bank transfers for the same bank’s customers.

Interbranch transfers within banks, check clearing and settlements, letters of credit, and bank funding only bulk fund movements from collection accounts, savings accounts, and deposits, including long-term investment transactions, were also exempt from the levy.

Social media users in Nigeria are bemoaning the new tax, claiming it is an addition to the other fees they already have to pay for online transactions. The five additional transaction fees that were paid as well as the amount withheld from transactions between N1,000 and N1,000,000 are highlighted in this report by PUNCH Online.

Cybersecurity levy

N5 is charged on the transaction of N1,000

N50 is charged on the transaction of N10,000

N500 is charged on the transaction of N100,000

N5,000 is charged on the transaction of N1,000,000

N50,000 is charged on the transaction of N10,000,000

Transfer fee
N10 is being charged on the transaction below N5,000

N25 is being charged on the transaction between 5,001 and N50,000

N50 is being charged on transactions above N50,000

Stamp duties

N50 is being charged on transactions between N10,000 and N10,000,000

Short Messaging Service (SMS)

N4 is being charged on each electronic transfer notification
NB: This is only applicable to customers on eligible electronic transactions. Those who opt for e-mailing services are not charged the same.