Senate rejects planned Communication Tax

30-09-2016 

The Senate has kicked against the Federal Government’s move to impose Commu­nications Service Tax on Nigeri­ans.

The proposed tax contained in an Executive Bill before the Sen­ate Committee on Communica­tions, seeks to make provisions for certain compulsory payments from communications consumers in the country.

In his lead debate, the Chair­man, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Gil­bert Nnaji, expressed apprehen­sion over the bill during the 2016 Budget’s defence meeting with the Nigerian Communications Com­mission (NCC) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF).

The lawmaker noted with concern, the economic implica­tions of the tax, particularly on the welfare of Nigeria’s low in­come earners.

Nnaji said: “There has been strident outcry by consumer rights groups and industry stakeholders against the Communications Ser­vice Tax Bill (CST) 2015 current­ly before the National Assembly.

“It is argued that the bill will limit access to communication as it will affect the lower income con­sumers, forcing them to abandon or reduce subscription to certain services.

“This committee is yet to be availed with the contents of this bill but it is important to state un­equivocally here that, as the elect­ed representatives of the Nigeri­an people, while we recognise the current administration’s efforts to widen its revenue base, con­scious efforts must be made to ensure that the socio-economic wellbeing of the citizenry remain sacrosanct.

“We assure Nigerians that this Committee will engage in wide consultations with all con­cerned stakeholders in consider­ing this Bill if it is referred to the Committee,” he said.

He urged industry players to live above board in their efforts to improve the economy.

He stated the position of his committee on some salient issues trending in the telecommunica­tions industry in the country.

According to him, “These are issues bordering on regulato­ry and operational environment in the sector such as the statuto­ry independence of the industry regulator and the obligations de­manded from industry operators to observe and respect regulato­ry directives.”

From the budget, the total revenue was estimated at N70, 672,492, 000, while total recur­rent expenditure amounted to N22, 211,186, 000, while total cap­ital expenditure and total special projects respectively stood at N15, 651,475, 000 and N6, 557,708,000.

Provisions for transfers to both USPF stood at N8, 584, 000, 000 while the Federal Govern­ment would be entitled to N17, 668,123, 000

In their separate responses, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta and the Executive Secretary of USPF, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu, thanked the committee for its legislative sup­ports.