Business

Osinbajo Opposes Emefiele On Cryptocurrencies

Published

2 years ago

February 26, 2021

NewTimes

Digital Economy: Osinbajo Commends Abiodun For Launch Of OGDEIP

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disagreed with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele over the ban on cryptocurrencies.
According to Osinbajo, what the monetary authorities should do is to provide a robust regulatory regime that will address serious concerns on its use.

Emefiele had on February 5, 2021 issued a directive asking banks to close all accounts that had to do with cryptocurrencies.

Citing instances of investigated criminal activities that had been linked to cryptocurrencies, he stated that the legitimacy of money and the safety of Nigeria’s financial system was central to the mandate of the CBN, even as he declared that “Cryptocurrency is not legitimate money” because it is not created or backed by any central bank.

“Cryptocurrency has no place in our monetary system at this time and cryptocurrency transactions should not be carried out through the Nigerian banking system,” he added.

Emefiele made the declaration on Tuesday, February 23, 2021, while briefing a joint Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions; ICT and Cybercrime; and Capital Market, on its directive to institutions under its regulation.

He described the operations of cryptocurrencies as dangerous and opaque. The CBN Governor said the use of cryptocurrencies contravened an existing law. He said given the fact that cryptocurrencies were issued by unregulated and unlicensed entities made it contrary to the mandate of the bank, as enshrined in the CBN Act (2007) declaring the bank as the issuer of legal tender in Nigeria.

However, Prof Osinbajo, in a video posted on twitter by his Senior Special Assistant, Media, Mr Laolu Akande disagreed with Emefiele, saying what the country’s monetary agencies should do is to provide robust regulation, not prohibition.

He said: “I fully appreciate the position of the CBN, the SEC and some of the anti-corruption agencies on the possible abuses of cryptocurrency and other well articulated concerns. But I believe their position should be the subject of further reflection. There’s a role for regulation here, and it is in the place of our monetory authorities to provide a robust regulatory regime that addresses these serious concerns without necessarily killing the goose that might lay the golden eggs.”

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Arts & Culture

BREAKING: After Subsidy Removal, NNPC Increases Petrol Price To Over N500

Published

14 hours ago

May 31, 2023

NewTimes

Senator Withdraws Support For Tinubu Over Choice Of Muslim Running Mate

President Tinubu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on Wednesday adjusted the pump price of petrol by over 100% to between N488 and N557.

The development followed the announcement by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on Monday that fuel subsidy was ‘gone’.

However, it was learnt that the president will meet with organised labour from 2pm Thursday (today) afternoon.

The prices have now been adjusted upward from between N189 to N194 to N537 per litre in Abuja and other North-central States.

For Lagos and other South-west states, a litre of fuel now sells for between N488 and N500 per litre.

In the South-east, the price will range from N515 to N520, while in the North-west, the price of the product was raised to N540. In the North-east, it moved from N199 to N557 per litre.

For the South-south, it is now from N511 to N525 per litre. Nigeria’s subsidy budget of N3.6 trillion for this year, expires in June, 2023.

Business

BREAKING: FCMB Founder Olasubomi Balogun Dies

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2023

NewTimes

Olasubomi Balogun

Theo Founderf First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is dead.

According to reports, family sources revealed that Balogun died in London Friday morning at the age of 89.

He was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland before his death.

As a ranking Ijebu Chief, his death will, however, only be officially announced in line with tradition.

Business

BVN Valid For Life, Has No Expiry Date- CBN

Published

3 weeks ago

May 11, 2023

NewTimes

CBN Appoints Officials, Confirms Nwanisobi As Communications Director

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has no expiry date.

According to the CBN, once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.

The regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions.

The CBN therefore urged Nigerians to disregard news on the expiration date for the BVN.

The bank stated that the BVN remains for life, as it has no expiry date.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Acting-Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin, reacting to claims of expiration by a national newspaper.

Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued in Nigeria remains for life and has no expiry date, citing that the claim was completely false, and urged advised bank customers to ignore it, he added:

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to reports suggesting that the Bank Verification Number issued by the Bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.

“Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date.

“Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life”.

He added that the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.

“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime.”

The number of bank account owners in Nigeria with Bank Verification Number (BVN) increased to 57 million as of April 9, 2023.

This was revealed in the latest BVN registration data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

However, the data showed that registration for the BVN has slowed since the beginning of this year despite the recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to close all bank accounts not linked.

At the end of 2022, the BVN database stood at 56.5 million. This shows that banks had recorded only about 500,000 new BVN registrations in the first three months of this year plus nine days in April. This is far lower than the average of 400,000 registrations per month recorded last year.