THERE is always something new to talk about in this part of the world. If it is not fuel queues which remain stubborn irrespective of the removal of subsidy about eleven months ago, it’s about the increase of tariff on electricity, a product that is hardly available in the market or even the soaring cost of a bag of rice or the Naira that has defied all good intended interventions by the Central Bank.
The new one last week was the 0.5 percent Cybersecurity Tax which the Central Bank directed all the banks to collect on every electronic transaction effective last Monday. The money collected will be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund, NCF, which is domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
Elections in the most advanced countries have come under cyber attack by rogue nations and even respectable ones who want to influence decisions in other jurisdictions. Cybersecurity has a commanding hold of the present and well into the future. It has become an important field of study and it continues to expand. At the moment, Cybersecurity provides a generic protective shield for all kinds of human endeavour and will remain very relevant well into the foreseeable future.
I have often heard people say, let’s do it and nothing will happen. The assumption here is not foolproof. They said so in the days of Rehoboam, and something happened – anarchy. Nobody prays for anarchy in our dear nation. But, know that too much oppression and tax load can lead to spontaneous and unpleasant consequences. Again, nobody prays for that. But caution becomes the operating word here.
Legal luminary and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has faulted the wrong interpretation of the amended Act by the CBN, explaining that the levy was not meant for individuals. The truth is that the Cybersecurity levy has become the latest addition to the nation’s growing dictionary of misery. There seems to be an orchestrated comeuppance for the drudgery of the ordinary folk in the society to whom life has little meaning at the moment.