Gbajabiamila Seeks Legislative Backing For Cryptocurrency – TheNigerialawyer

The House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has
said that there is a need to come up with a legislation on
cryptocurrency, which is gradually becoming acceptable all over the
world.

The Speaker said the legislation became necessary to regulate
transactions involving cryptocurrency for Nigeria not to be left
behind.

Gbajabiamila stated this while playing host to the board of the
Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) led by its chairman,
Ronke Sokefun who paid him a courtesy visit, saying that he
believed the corporation’s mandate was critical to the financial
sector of Nigeria’s economy.

A statement signed by the Speaker’s Media Adviser, Lanre Lasisi
quoted him as saying that the House would structure the corporation
to enhance the agency’s statutory functions, adding that the House
would look at the law establishing the agency to make amendments
that would ensure that some of its functions do not overlap with
that of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“On the issue of cryptocurrency, I think block-chain technology
is novel and coming up strong. We don’t want to be left behind

“Not too long ago, a group of world leaders, G20 met in Osaka,
Japan and one of the issues they discussed was block-chain
technology and cryptocurrency.

“They had a sub-group of leaders called the V20 established from
that meeting. It’s an assemblage of virtual currency
representatives. I think the world is taking the issue of
cryptocurrency and block-chain technology seriously. We don’t want
to be left behind, and we have to take it seriously.

“The House is ready to work with you on that so that we don’t
get left behind, and within legislation and regulation of
block-chain application that will put Nigeria within that rank of
advanced technology.

“I’m aware that we trade on different platforms about $12
million on yearly basis in this country, and a lot of these things,
as you said, are in the air but not captured. It is time we begin
to look seriously at this advancement in technology,” the Speaker
said.

On structuring the corporation, the Speaker said “there seems to
be a blurry line over some of your functions and that of CBN: some
overlapping functions.
“I think we need to structure NDIC so that the lines are clearly
defined. I’m sure if that hasn’t happened already, there will be
times, if not now but in the future when those grey areas might
cause issues between you and the CBN.‎”

Speaker Gbajabiamila also assured that the yet-to-be-constituted
House Committee on Banking and Currency would pay adequate
attention to the activities of the corporation and that suggestions
on how to collaborate with the House would be welcomed.‎

Earlier, the NDIC chairman Sokefun said the visit ‎was to
congratulate the Speaker on his emergence and acquaint him with the
basic functions of the corporation being a critical player in the
Nigerian financial sector.

‎She said the corporation has achieved remarkable success in its
30 years of operations, noting that it was the first public sector
institution in Nigeria to receive three international standards
certification.

She said NDIC the corporation has been remitting pension and
national housing funds, among others, to the appropriate quarters
and that it was adjudged the best performing ministerial sector
unit by SERVICOM.