The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the Nigerian Government to establish a strong and effective framework to combat cybercrime in the financial sector.
Gatekeepers News reports that on May 6, Nigeria’s Central Bank directed banks and other financial institutions to impose a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on electronic transfers.
The deductions collected will be deposited into the national cybersecurity fund, which will be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
If the policy is implemented, a transfer of N1 million will be charged N5,000 from the sender’s account.
Although there are some exemptions, the new policy has sparked concern throughout the country since its announcement.
Cybersecurity is an important issue, according to Christian Ebeke, the IMF’s Resident Representative for Nigeria, who spoke about the new levy during a virtual media briefing on the publication of Nigeria’s Article IV Consultation staff report on Thursday.
Ebeke stated that cybersecurity is a significant issue that must be taken seriously due to the potential financial instability implications of cybercrime.
To provide context, Africa is estimated to lose $4 billion to cybercrime each year, with a prediction that the cost could skyrocket to $12 trillion by next year.
“This is an issue that we take very seriously at the IMF and in fact, our global financial stability report in April highlighted the importance of designing adequate frameworks and adequate regulation to tackle cybersecurity,” he said.
“In the case of Nigeria… I understand that the House of Representatives voted a motion to basically pause the implementation of this cybersecurity levy that was part of the cybercrime act that was just adopted lately.
“So, we have not discussed this particular issue with the authorities, but as I mentioned, it’s something that is very serious and we encourage the authorities to actually work towards having an adequate framework around cybersecurity and more generally designing something that is robust and sufficiently efficient to tackle this very, very important issue for the financial sector.”
House of Representatives, on May 9, asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withdraw its directive on the cybersecurity levy, describing it as “ambiguous”.
