President Bola Tinubu has permanently removed a 5% tax on telecommunications services, according to the head of Nigeria’s communications regulator.
Aminu Maida, who is the executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), announced the news to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday. He explained that the tax, which had been temporarily stopped, has now been completely scrapped under new tax laws.
“The excise duty, it was the 5 percent or so, that is no longer there,” Maida told reporters.
“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.”
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The 5% tax on telecommunications services has had a complicated history over the past year and a half.
In July 2023, President Tinubu signed four executive orders that temporarily suspended the 5% tax on phone and internet services. The government said this was done to reduce the negative effects of tax changes on businesses and ordinary families.
However, things took a different turn in October 2024. The National Assembly proposed bringing back the tax on telecommunications services, as well as on gaming, betting, and lottery activities.
The telecommunications industry strongly opposed bringing the tax back. The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) rejected the proposal, arguing that it would be unfair for the government to impose this tax when phone and internet companies were already struggling to keep their services running.
