The Federal Government is set to release the names of 18 banks owing Nigerian telecom operators nearly ₦200 billion in Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges.

This debt, accumulated over several years, has remained unresolved despite persistent demands for payment from the telcos.

The move, expected to be announced tomorrow, appears to be aimed at compelling the telcos to cease providing USSD services to these banks.

These services enable seamless online banking for millions of customers across the country.

Telcos have also issued threats of a telecom blackout in nine states, intensifying concerns about the implications of this standoff on banking and communication services nationwide.

Nigerian banks and the federal government, through the Federal Inland Revenue Service, have been enmeshed in disagreement over how much should be paid in a one-off foreign exchange windfall tax, two weeks after an initial deadline elapsed.

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in July 2024 sought lawmakers’ approval for a 50 percent tax on banks’ realised foreign exchange gains following the naira devaluation on June 14, 2023.

Thereafter, both chambers of the National Assembly passed the bill seeking the one-off tax, called the wildfall tax, with the Senate raising the rate to 70 percent.

Nigerian top-tier banks were to be debited by the CBN on December 31, 2024, for the windfall tax.

However, Business Day on Monday reports that barely two days after the deadline, Nigerian banks are yet to give in on the windfall tax implementation.

The banks and the FIRS, however, can’t seem to agree on the tax due, two weeks after the payment deadline.

“The banks are having a quiet tango with the FIRS on the windfall tax issue at the moment,” a source familiar with the matter told Business Day.

“The banks are arguing with the FIRS on the calculated sums of tax due and are reverting with their own calculations based on the same principles the FIRS is basing its numbers on.

“All banks were going to be debited on December 31 by the CBN based on FIRS numbers, but the coordinating minister of the economy said no.

“Most of the banks now live in fear of being hammered anytime from now by the CBN based on whatever FIRS wants to do,” the source further said.

The windfall tax comes as the Nigerian banks benefit from Tinubu’s foreign exchange reform in 2023, which led to an initial 40 percent devaluation of the currency.

Four of Nigeria’s five largest banks recorded huge foreign exchange revaluation gains in 2023, with First Bank of Nigeria Holdings the only exception.

To this end, reports have it that Access Bank, Zenith Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, and United Bank for Africa saw their combined gross earnings more than double to N8 trillion in 2023.

Similarly, profit before tax for the four banks jumped more than two-fold to N2.9 trillion, according to the results declared for the year.

Gains made from currency revaluation account for as much as a third or more of their entire profit for the year under consideration, according to the credit-rating agency Moody’s, which covers the top nine Nigerian lenders.

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, in July said the windfall tax is a recovery plan to balance the Nigerian economy.

This comes amid the opposition by stakeholders in the banking sector.

However, Femi Otedola, the chairman of FBNH, whose bank was not affected, backed the federal government on the implementation of the windfall tax.

The tax will see the federal government rank in 70 percent of the N3.7 trillion FX gain by banks in 2023.

The prices of premium motor spirit and other petroleum refined products may rise in the coming days following the increase in the cost of crude oil prices, such as Brent.

Ekwutosblog  reports on Monday that the price of Brent crude surged $81.09 per barrel as of the time of filing this report from around $76 last week.

Recall that the Nigerian government in the 2025 budget proposal bench-marked oil price at $75 per barrel.

The rise in the price of Brent is attributed to geopolitical tensions, particularly sanctions imposed on Russian oil exports, which have triggered supply concerns.

The development may impact the ex-depot prices of refined petroleum fuel across depots in Nigeria.

Ekwutosblog gathered on Friday that the price of automotive gas oil, diesel, has already been adjusted by at least N70 from N1,050 to N1,120 per litre in Lagos depots.

Data from the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria on December 19, 2024, showed that the landing cost of petrol stood at N887.51 per litre; however, the rise in the price of crude oil means the landing cost may go up in the coming days.

Ekwutosblog reports that in the past weeks, the price of petrol has recorded a reduction.

Recall that Dangote Refinery and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited last year announced an ex-depot petrol price reduction, which led to the retail product dropping to between N935 and N965 per litre from N1040 per litre.

Consequently, Nigerians currently buy petrol between N935 and N1,100 per litre nationwide.

A rise in petrol prices may directly impact the increase in the prices of goods and services that are already on the high side, as November headline and food inflation stand at 34.60 percent and 39.93 percent, respectively.