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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has permanently scrapped the 5 per cent excise duty on telecommunications services, a move expected to ease financial pressures on millions of Nigerian subscribers while spurring growth in the country’s digital economy.
The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, confirmed the development during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja. He noted that the levy, initially suspended, has now been completely removed under Nigeria’s new tax laws.
“The excise duty—it was 5 per cent or so—that is no longer there,” Maida explained. “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.”
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The controversial levy, first introduced in 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, had faced intense public backlash. Tinubu suspended it in July 2023, citing its burden on consumers and the wider economy, before now moving to abolish it completely under the newly consolidated Nigeria Tax Act.
With over 172 million active telephone subscribers, including 141 million internet users and 105 million broadband connections, the removal of the tax is expected to reduce costs for consumers and deepen digital inclusion across the country.
Dr Maida highlighted that the NCC is anchoring reforms on transparency, accountability, and consumer protection. Among the initiatives is a public network performance map—set to be released in September—that will provide independent data on download speeds, latency, and reliability. A quarterly report based on user data will also be published to hold not just mobile operators but also infrastructure providers accountable.
Maida outlined broader reforms in the telecoms sector, including the conclusion of the NIN-SIM audit, settlement of USSD debt disputes, transition to end-user billing, and the launch of a Major Incident Reporting Portal. He stressed that the commission is now leveraging corporate governance as a tool to attract investment and strengthen the industry.
“Transparent, well-governed companies attract investment and perform better,” he said. “Our goal is to lay the foundation for a Nigerian telecom company that is wholly owned, well-run, and globally competitive.”
He added that while the telecom policy of 2000 successfully broke monopolies and encouraged competition, the sector now requires a fresh policy to respond to new realities such as AI, the Internet of Things, remote sensors, and augmented reality.
Responding to complaints about failed top-ups and data depletion, Maida disclosed that a joint NCC-CBN task force has developed a standardised recharge framework. Independent audits by Tier-1 firms revealed no systemic manipulation of consumer data, but rather issues linked to background app usage, device settings, and complex tariff structures.
Director of the Consumer Affairs Bureau, Freda Bruce-Bennett, shared practical tips for subscribers to stretch their data, including disabling autoplay on social media, deleting unused apps, activating data-saving modes, and relying on Wi-Fi where possible.
Meanwhile, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, urged the media to continue highlighting regulatory interventions to help Nigerians understand and benefit from ongoing reforms.
“You are the ones that transmit and convey our transformative policies to the people of Nigeria,” she said. “Therefore, I invite you to be open and talk to us freely. We are here to collaborate with you.”
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