President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with his recent order to suspend the cyber security levy proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria has proven that the advice of prominent Nigerians like Primate Elijah Ayodele is being utilized by the government.
The federal government has made policies that appear not to be people-friendly and the cyber security levy which will allow a deduction in every financial transaction made by Nigerians was another of those policies perceived as insensitive due to the current hardship.
On its emergence, Primate Ayodele, a prominent and respected man of God, advised the government not to go ahead with the policy because it will affect the country negatively. The prophet blasted the Central Bank of Nigeria for insensitivity at a time when citizens are looking for ways out of hardship. He implored the government to be concerned about lifting citizens out of the perilous time instead of adding more troubles for them. He urged President Tinubu to review the policies carefully.
These were his words; “Increasing VAT, stamp duty, implementing cybersecurity levy at this time is not proper.Nigeria may not understand all of these and the government in power may not even understand too but the fact remains that the government must review their policies very well.”
“These policies will only lead to more hardship for the people, the prices of food commodities will skyrocket and even the salary increase will still lead to more hardship if these policies continue.’’
Just five days after Primate Ayodele’s advice on the cyber security levy, President Tinubu ordered the suspension, explaining that his government isn’t insensitive to the pains of the citizens. Obviously, this aligns with the admonition the popular cleric shared with the presidency in his message.
