Our government strikes… yet again
Last night, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it secured court orders to freeze the bank accounts of some investment Fintech Startups including RiseVest, Bamboo, Chaka, and Trove in violation of the extant laws and regulations, particularly the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act and the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange manual.
This came barely 24 hours after the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Amendment Bill was announced. A bill with ridiculous amendments aimed at stifling Fintech operators through ridiculous levies and rules.
What they fail to realise is that the more the CBN damages investor confidence, the less $ flow into Nigeria.
This begs the question, is Nigeria progressing or regressing? Why is our government fixated on killing any sector that is thriving by slamming bans and dreams-killing policies on them?
At this point, I feel it’s intentional. Cos the precedences are way too much to be just a coincidence. Chased out Gokada, ban Crypto trading, ban Twitter, introduced NITDA Amendment bill etc. But someone is somewhere claiming they are championing the Ease of doing business.
So what is the next thing they are coming for? Ban the use of MacBook? They’ll probably ask Apple to come register in Nigeria before we are allowed to use it.
Fam, every day you wake up and your business is not directly or indirectly affected by ridiculous government policies yet, just be thanking God.
My conclusion, Nigeria is like Arsenal — going from bad to worse.
