The telecom sub-sector of Nigeria’s digital economy industry would no longer be subject to excise taxes, according to the Federal Government.
This was following the Committee’s recommendations to assess the Duty’s applicability to the telecom sector, which is already thought to be heavily taxed and subject to several levies.
In a speech to freshmen today, March 21, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami provided updates on the 5% excise duty, whose application to the telecom sector was contested by the Minister in August 2022. As a result, President Muhammadu Buhari suspended its application to the telecom sector and established a Presidential Review Committee on Excise Duty in the Digital Economy Sector.
The Minister stated that the President exempted the telecom sector from the list of sectors to pay the excise duty as stated in the Finance Act of 2021 and other subsidiary legislations, all of which are not as superior as the Constitution which permits the President to grant such waiver. The President did this after carefully considering the arguments made by the Committee and basing his decision on the provision of Section 5 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The Minister gave the telecom consumers in Nigeria the reassurance that the incoming administration would maintain the presidential exemption granted to the telecom industry because “the decision by the President is not about any political party or any administration but about Nigeria and the welfare of Nigerian citizens.”
