New CBN’s 0.5% (0.005) Cybersecurity Levy, What It Entails

On Monday, April 6, 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that the cybersecurity levy would henceforth be deducted from all electronic transactions made by all and sundry.

The apex bank also ordered banks operating in the country to charge a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on transactions.

A circular from the apex bank further disclosed that the implementation of the level would start in two weeks.

READ: CBN Imposes Cybersecurity Charge On Bank Transactions, Funds To Be Remitted To NSA

The announcement was greeted with condemnations from Nigerians, who are further angered by tightening policies amid the fuel scarcity crisis.

“Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 and under the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, a levy of 0.5 percent (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund, which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser,” the circular stated.

In this report, OSUN DEFENDER explains what the term means and how to know the cybersecurity levy charged on your transactions.

Firstly, it is important to know that 0.5% is equivalent to 0.005 (which is half of 1 percent). 0.005 is the decimal representation of 0.5%.

Hence, this entails that CBN will deduct 0.5% of any transfer made in accordance with the stipulated guidelines.

For instance, if a customer wants to transfer the sum of N10,000. Following the new CBN directive, the customer will be charged N50 for cybersecurity levy, this is aside from bank charges or any other charges incurred on bank transactions such as VAT, etc.

To find out how to calculate what you will be charged when making a transaction, the formulas are below;

Formula one

The amount to be transferred is multiplied by 0.5 and then divided by 100. The result is what will be charged as the cybersecurity levy on that transaction.

Formula two

The amount to be transferred is multiplied by 0.005. The result is what will be charged as the cybersecurity levy on that transaction.

However, the CBN also highlighted 16 banking transactions that are exempted from the CBN’s new cybersecurity levy, including Loan disbursements repayments, and Salary payments, among others.