Peaceful protesters said #EndSARS. What was the response?
1. CBN froze bank accounts in Oct, then court gave 90-days freeze order (law says order should only be 7 - 14 days)
2. IGP told Police to respond with force & that they can deprive citizens of their right to life
3. Moe was stopped at airport and passport detained
4. Detention of persons (including infants) in Lagos on charges of looting (without evidence). Reported to be as much as 700, without feeding.
5. 6 non-violent persons remanded in Abuja till January 2021 & bail denied.
7. Reports of a Eromosele Peter Adene picked up from his house in Lagos today and taken away. No one can confirm his location so far.
8. Lagos State & Police issued statement outlawing protests. That is a contravention of right to assembly & association in Nigeria’s constitution
9. No prominent prosecution of any of the persons accused of police brutality (eg James Nwafor)
10. No public information on psychological evaluation of members of SARS
11. Instead, training of a new SWAT team despite public opposition to speed and lack of information.
12. NHRC still has no governing council.
13. Unclear how many protesters may still be detained in several states
14. Some States have announced a compensation fund, but there is presently no announcement of a federal compensation fund. Size of individual compensation unclear.
15. 29 states & FCT have set-up judicial panels. Next step (eg prosecution, compensation) after judicial panel is unclear.
16. Unclear how announcement on police welfare/reforms will be implemented.
17. Police in some states have ceased responsibilities in defiance to protests
18. Legal Aid Council of Nigeria noted that Lagos detained suspected looters, boys and girls as young as 15 years and men and women as old as 70. They requested a list of all suspects. Unclear if that demand has been complied with.
19. Rise in talks of Social media regulations.
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Nigeria’s SEC in a recent regulatory statement stated it classifies virtual crypto asset as securities (under s.13 of Investment securities act).
Meaning SEC has powers to regulate crypto asset investments (e.g crypto-token or crypto-coins)
The statement defines issuing crypto assets as a regulated activity & specifically lists:
⁃Initial coin offering
⁃Digital asset token offering
⁃Security token offering
Gives existing digital offering 3 months to submit documents for initial assessment or registration
Who is regulated?
1. Any person, (individual or corporate) whose activities involve any aspect of Blockchain-related and virtual digital asset services (They must register with SEC)
2. Issuers or sponsors (start-ups or existing corporations) of virtual digital assets
Reading a @TechCabal’s article and intrigued with some figures, which confirm massive role Fintech & digital payments will play in Nigeria’s economic future. Let me share some:
1. Between Jan - June 2020, GTBank processed $356.4m USSD payment & added 600,000 new USSD customers.
2. Mobile & Internet Banking: Jan - June 2020, GTbank processed 95 million mobile banking transactions worth ₦5.7 trillion, and internet banking transactions grew 14% to ₦1.2 trillion.
3. Nigeria’s fintech revenues is predicted to grow to as much as $543.3 million by 2022.
4. Nigeria’s payment market is estimated to grow between $20 billion to $40 billion over the next few years.
5. In August 2020 alone, NIBSS Instant payment (NIP) transaction volume was nearly 200 million with total transaction value of almost ₦15 trillion ($38.9 billion).
Quick observations for fintech businesses/digital banks from financial results of Monzo, Revolut & Starling
Lesson 1: LENDING HURTS. Starling earned 2.1m from interest but has 2.2m in bad loans. Monzo has an even riskier loan portfolio.
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Lesson 2: card transaction fees still makes up a large portion of the models for the 3 digital banks - about 63% of income for Revolution, 55% for Monzo & 45% for Starling.
So earnings are not so diversified as card transactions fees is main earner. This is a major income risk.
Lesson 3: The Starling model of having a marketplace for vendors to sell their services doesn’t seem to be yielding great results. Starling only got a commission of £72,000 for period.
If the model is going to survive, volumes have to go up for commission to be worth it.
From August 20, Online car hailing business (Uber, Bolt etc) must pay Lagos state a fee of NGN 10 million for every 1,000 cars. Annual renewal fee is NGN 5 million.
10% of EVERY transaction paid by every passenger will be collected by Lagos state as service tax.
IT GETS WORSE!!
The Companies must give Lagos state access to your Data and their entire database (section 4.2 of Guidelines).
The companies will push the 10% service tax to customers so the price of trips will increase.
These companies must still pay company income tax by the way.
@TechCabal reports the Guidelines for online hailing business operation of taxi in Lagos state 2020 (which created this rules) has been approved by the Governor
These rules will also make it hard for new smaller entrants into the industry.
Today, the amended Companies & Allied Matters Act was signed today by President Buhari.
Key reforms: 1. A company can now have only one shareholder 2. No need for company seal anymore 3. Incorporated Trustees (NGOs) can now merge
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4. Prohibits anyone from serving as director in more than 5 public companies 5. Electronic filing, share transfer & e-meetings for private companies 6. Introduces Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) & Limited Partnership 7. Small companies no longer need to appoint auditors
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8. Authorized share capital replaced by minimum share capital 9. Provision for virtual Annual General Meeting 10. During incorporation, applicant can sign their statement of compliance (no need for lawyers) 11. Private companies no longer need to appoint company secretary
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Let me tell you a story about @OlumideAkpata, candidate for @NigBarAssoc president. In 2018, we had negotiated #AfCFTA & I was moving to Geneva to work with King & Spalding LLP to design Nigeria’s 1st trade remedies infrastructure to protect the economy. One evening, I got a call
Mr @OlumideAkpata , then chairman of the @nbasblofficial , had come into Abuja few days before I was to travel and wanted to speak with me. We met up. He told me, “Our conference this year is on the #AfCFTA & because you worked on it and know it, you should help with direction”
We sat in the Hotel lobby at 10pm and spoke for over 4 hours on conference topics, discussions areas, speakers, break-out sessions and the role of lawyers in the AfCFTA. For context, this was a partner in one of the most successful law firms in Nigeria and I was this young lawyer