The Federal Government on Thursday said it would implement the 5 per cent increment on inclusive excise duty on telecommunications services in the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, at a consultative forum on the implementation of excise duty organised by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) in Abuja.
The minister, represented by the Assistant Chief Officer of the Ministry, Frank Oshanipin revealed that the 5 per cent excise duty had been in the finance Act: 2020 but was not implemented.
She highlighted that African countries like Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and others have all keyed into this revenue generation pattern.
Payments are to be made on monthly basis, on or before 21st of every month.
She emphasised: “The duty rate was not captured in the Act because it is the responsibility of the President to fix rate on excise duties and he has fixed five per cent for telecommunication services which include GSM.
“It is public knowledge that our revenue cannot run our financial obligations, so we are to shift our attention to non-oil revenue.
“The responsibility of generating revenue to run government lies with us all.’’
Earlier, in his remark, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, represented by the Executive Commissioner Stakeholders management NCC Adeleke Adewolu said the forum is necessitate for stakeholders to get better clarifications on the 5% exercise duty on telecom services implementation.
“As telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission has engaged with the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Customs Service and consultants from the World Bank to get needed clarifications.
“These engagements enabled us to better understand the objectives and proposed implementation mechanisms of the Excise Duty”, he stated.