Pantami rejects excise duty on digital economy sector, insists on supremacy of President’s approval

By Ibiyemi Mathew

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,  Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has rejected the proposed 5 per cent excise duty for telecommunications services.

In the new fiscal policy for 2023, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning listed the 5 per cent excise duty on telecommunications services as part of the fiscal measures to be implemented this year.

However, Professor Pantami in a statement insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari has earlier approved the exemption of the Telecommunications Sector from the proposed excise duty.

According to Pantami, this was in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Review Committee on Excise Duty in the Digital Economy Sector.

“The six-member Committee which was constituted at the behest of the Honourable Minister and approved by the President, was formally inaugurated on the 5th of September, 2022 and membership included; the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy as Chairman, Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Executive Chairman Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as Secretary  and two representatives of the Mobile Network Operators (MN0s).

“The Committee’s mandate was to critically and objectively assess the potential effects on the economy, of an additional 5 per cent Excise Duty tax charge on the Digital Economy Sector.

“After five months of intensive and objective deliberations, the Committee submitted its report to the President precisely on the 13th of February 2023. The report had recommended the exclusion of the proposed, and then suspended 5 per cent excise duty  tax on the Digital Economy Sector, citing incontrovertible facts including; the unprecedented contribution of the sector to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the sustained quantum leap in government revenue which currently stands at a staggering five hundred and ninety four billion naira quarterly, its position as the baseline driver of innumerable businesses at the Micro, Medium and Small scale levels among others.

“President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR on the  On 13th March 2023, approved the following prayer: The Government exempts the Digital Economy Sector from excise duty charges in order to sustain and enhance use of Digital Economy services and to further benefit from their positive impacts on the economy,” the statement read.

He added further that the President’s approval supercedes all other declarations regarding the tax implementation and the Ministry will stand by it.