The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Aminu Maida, has confirmed that President Bola Tinubu has removed the 5 per cent excise duty on telecommunications services in the new tax laws, a move expected to ease cost pressures on subscribers.
“The excise duty, it was the 5 per cent or so, that is no longer there,” he said. “Before it was suspended, but now the president has been magnanimous to remove it entirely. I was in a room when it was raised, and he said, No, no, no, we cannot put this on Nigerians. I was very pleased when the bills came out and we saw his words were followed through.”
The five per cent excise duty is part of a broader tax reform initiative under a bill titled “A Bill for an Act to Repeal Certain Acts on Taxation and Consolidate the Legal Frameworks relating to Taxation and Enact the Nigeria Tax Act to Provide for Taxation of Income, Transactions, and Instruments, and Related Matters”.