In order to address a growing budgetary crisis, Nigeria, the continent’s largest wireless market, is going forward with a proposed 5% tax on phone calls, mobile internet, and text messaging.
In an email message that emphasized the government’s precarious financial situation, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed announced the application of the tax, which had been postponed since last year. The largest crude producer in Africa as of April spends more on debt repayment than it earns.
“Although Nigeria is celebrated as the largest economy in Africa, translating this wealth into revenues remains a challenge,” stated Ahmed. When the fee, which is in addition to a 7.5% value-added tax on calls and data, will start to be collected is not specified in the announcement.
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Isa Pantami, the minister of communications, requested that the government reconsider the tax earlier this month on the grounds that it may impede the development of one of the nation’s fastest-growing industries.
MTN Ghana cited a decrease in mobile-money sales in its first-half results on a similar levy that neighboring Ghana in West Africa had enacted. Ghana, which is also experiencing financial difficulties, implemented a 1.5% e-levy in May to increase tax income and close a growing budget deficit.
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According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Nigeria has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world (6% in 2019). In the four months ending in April, the government brought in 1.63 trillion naira (about R61.4 billion), compared to 1.94 trillion naira in debt service payments.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
