The Federal Government has been advised to tax Nigerians for every call above three minutes.

The advice came from the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,

Godwin Emefiele, who says it will cushion the effect of the

economic recession.

Speaking at the Annual Bankers' Dinner in Lagos on Friday,

November 18, 2016, Emefiele said the government could raise

about N100billion as additional revenue by introducing the charge.

In his words, " There are several ways we can raise additional revenue

to finance the increased expenditure that is needed to engender fast

and sustainable growth in the economy ."

Speaking further Emefiele said, " I think we can consider introducing

a negligible telecommunication surcharge to be entirely borne by the initiator of a

call. In order to protect the poor and vulnerable amongst us, we could

structure it to only take effect after the third minute of talk.

"Some analysis have indicated that the government could earn about

N100 billion per annum from this alone. Obviously this surcharge will

mainly be borne by middle and upper class people since I do not know

many poor people who make calls for more than 3 minutes! "