The beginning of the end of cryptocurrency in Nigeria

Welcome to Nigeria where the government has deemed crypto to be illegal and has resorted to banning the technology which could have been used to further develop the economy. Countries such as El Salvador just made their first profit in millions by investing in Bitcoin while my dear country has continued borrowing loans from other countries without the plan or aim of repaying.

For those still new or confused as to why a third-world country such as Nigeria will ban a technology that could help develop their country further, the full gist will be summarised in just two paragraphs. The Nigerian government is corrupt and that’s has been a major issue with a country that is blessed with lots of Billionaires in dollars. The people in power have much more money than the people who have been recognized by Forbes has been wealthy.

That’s a reason why the technology is seen as a threat as it tackles Corruption since everything done on the technology is transparent and public to all. The main reason why the government of Nigeria is just so much against the technology is the part it played during the last protest by the Nigerian youths in 2020. The cryptocurrency broke boundaries and opened Nigeria to another world of possibilities.

So, in summary, crypto was banned for the part it plays during the last EndSars protest as it was used as the medium of exchange and payment to get the basic needs such as food for the protesters. The drastic actions the government has taken is to label every Nigerian citizen around the age of 18 to 30 as a Criminal and has placed their bank account on a red alert.

That has made Peer Peer transactions harder to engage in as Government has sent spies to exchanges such as Binance to act as buyers of coins. These tactics is been used to identify Bank account numbers of people involved in cryptocurrency and they will flag and lock such an account once payment is made.

This trick has seen many Nigerian youths lose millions of naira as their bank account has been either flagged and lock while some have been arrested by the Police and they currently being questioned. I heard of a story where someone was cajoled by this Bank relationship manager to come to the bank to pick up something and the person had no idea that the bank was working with the police.

As soon as the person appeared on the bank premises, he was picked up by a law enforcement agency and was thrown into their vehicle, and drove away to the law enforcement agency office for questioning. This has shown that the government has labeled everyone dealing in crypto as a criminal and will stop at nothing to ensure that youths are persuaded not to engage in it.

In a country where terrorists are, the clueless government has chosen to face and take youths dealing with cryptocurrency and that shows how misplaced the government priorities are. Regardless of how strict the government will be on crypto, one thing is sure, the technology is here to stay and they have no power or technical know-how on how to stop it

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