…As FG Scraps 5% Excise Duty On Telecoms Services
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday announced new plans to enhance electronic transactions and other related services in the country.
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Dr. Aminu Maida, who made this disclosure at a media briefing in Abuja, said that both agencies had set up a joint task force to establish a standardised operational framework for resolving failed transactions such as airtime recharges and top-ups.
Maida noted that currently many customers were being debited without receiving value for airtime or data due to the absence of a unified system as operators are independently working, adding that the NCC task force with the CBN is aimed at harmonising this process to protect consumers.
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According to him, the framework which is currently under review, seeks to streamline dispute resolution, enforce accountability across the telecom and financial sectors, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Maida explained that to improve service quality and data transparency, telecom operators were investing in new infrastructure to boost network performance, just as the commission had tightened its Quality of Service (QoS) guidelines, stressing that “for the first time, the entire ecosystem—not just mobile operators—will be held accountable.”
On consumers’ concerns about rapid data depletion, Maida disclosed that independent audits conducted by PwC and KPMG, had absolved the mobile network operators (MNOs) of intentional malpractice and that the problem was due to opaque and complex tariff structures.
He said that in response to the problem, the NCC had mandated a unified, transparent tariff disclosure system to give customers clearer insight into their data usage and costs.
The EVC also spoke on the Nigeria’s improving digital drive with 171 million active telecom subscribers, 141 million internet users (81.9% penetration), and 105 million broadband subscriptions, noting that these figures attest to the critical role of telecom services in national development.
On fiscal measures as they relate to the telecoms sector, Maida also confirmed that the Federal Government had removed the five per cent excise duty on telecommunications services in the new tax laws to ease cost pressures on subscribers.
He explained: “The excise duty, it was five per cent or so, that is no longer there. 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, 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 the government’s 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”.
Speaking at the forum, NCC’s Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau, Freda Bruce-Bennett, advised consumers to adopt smarter data management practices such as disabling auto-play on videos and restricting background data on non-essential apps to optimize their internet subscriptions.
Industry experts believe that the NCC-CBN collaboration is a significant step toward restoring trust, transparency, and reliability in telecom-related financial services as the implementation of the new framework will avail consumers more reliable experience and make MNOs to be more accountable for their services.
