As 2021 draws the curtain to usher in 2022, it is
important to look at some of the events that
impacted the economy.

While many Nigerians believe that nothing can
surprise them, the federal government took some
steps that impacted the economy positively and
negatively in the year.

Some applauded the decisions while others
knocked and expressed anger.

TheCable looks at some of the issues that impacted the economy in 2021.


TWITTER BAN
As Nigerians settled into the evening of June 4,
2021, the federal government announced the
indefinite suspension of Twitter. The suspension
came after the microblogging site deleted tweets
from President Muhammadu Buhari’s account.
The president had tweeted that the country will treat
the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB) in the
“language they understand”.

Defending the decision, Lai Mohammed, the
information minister, condemned the deletion of the president’s post and accused Twitter of “double
standard”.

Many described the decision of the Buhari
government as an effort to shrink civil space.

Apart from the civil space, the Nigerian economy
has lost over N500 billion due to the shutdown,
according to estimates by NetBlocks Cost of
Shutdown Tool, a data-driven online service.

Per NetBlocks estimates, the country’s economy
loses N104.02 million ($250,600) every hour to the
ban on Twitter.

CRYPTO BAN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks
to close accounts of persons or entities involved in
cryptocurrency transactions within their systems.

The directive came as a shock to Nigerians.

The CBN said crypto investments have high risk
and are used for money laundering, terrorism
financing, illicit fund flows and criminal activities.

“Further to earlier regulatory directives on the
subject, the bank hereby wishes to remind regulated institutions that dealing in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited, ” a circular signed by Bello Hassan, director for banking supervision and Musa Jimoh, director of the payment system management department, read.

“Accordingly, all DMBs, NBFIs and OFIs are directed to identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately.”

Nigerians on social media also expressed grievances.


BAN ON FX SALE TO BDCs, INVESTIGATION OF
ONIWINDE ADEDOTUN Of ABOKIFX
In September, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the apex bank
is investigating Oniwinde Adedotun , the founder of
abokiFX over alleged forex data manipulations.

abokiFx founder distanced himself from the
allegations, saying the platform is solely for parallel
rate information and not trading. He later shut down the parallel market trading segment on the website.

In the spirit of what the government refers to as
stabilising the economy and bringing sanity to the
process, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) within
the year stopped the sales of foreign exchange (FX)
to Bureau De Change (BDCs) operators in the
country.

On Bureaux de Change operators, Emefiele said the
apex bank received about 5,000 applications every
month for BDC registration, adding that the
operators are making efforts to dollarise the
Nigerian economy.

The CBN governor said BDC operators had become
a conduit for illegal financial flows working with
corrupt people to conduct money laundering in
Nigeria. The bank stated that several international
organisations, embassies patronise BDC through
illegal forex dealers to fund their institutions.

The bank also promised to “deal ruthlessly” with
Nigerian banks that deal with illegal BDCs, and we
will report foreign organisations patronising them.
Since then, the Nigerian naira is still trading
between N560 and N570 to a dollar at the parallel
market.


PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
In August, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the
petroleum industry bill into law.

The passage of the PIB, which proved to be a
nightmare for successive administrations, was
conceived during the tenure of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo.

In 2018, after the national assembly passed a
harmonised version of the bill — the petroleum
industry governance bill (PIGB), President
Muhammadu Buhari refused assent over “legal and
constitutional reasons”.

The Petroleum Industry Act provides a legal,
governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the
Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of
host communities, and related matters.

The PIA is expected to facilitate Nigeria’s economic
development by attracting and creating investment
opportunities for local and international investors.


BAN ON SALES OF SIM CARDS, NIN-SIM LINKAGE
In December 2020, Isa Pantami, minister of
communications and digital economy, directed the
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to
audit the subscriber registration database.

The directive instructed mobile network operators to suspend the sale, registration and activation of
new SIM Cards until the completion of the audit exercise.

The policy denied new entrants into the country
access to purchase mobile lines while existing
users who want to retrieve their lost lines were not
allowed access. This resulted in a massive decline
in telecoms’ mobile subscriptions and impacted
earnings — and in turn, affected the Nigerian
economy.

The policy also affected the performance of the
information and communication
(Telecommunications) sector of the economy.

https://www.thecable.ng/ban-on-sales-of-sim-cards-twitter-decisions-that-impacted-nigerian-economy-in-2021/amp