Cryptocurrency ban: Don’t add pressure to youth unemployment, Atiku cautions FG

Against the federal government’s ban on cryptocurrency and bitcoin transactions in Nigeria, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said that rather than seek to close the economy, the government should implement policies that open it up because of the present level of unemployment.

Rejecting the ban in a statement he issued Saturday, he pointed out that the number one challenge facing Nigeria is youth unemployment, saying: “In fact, it is not a challenge, it is an emergency. It affects our economy, and is exacerbating insecurity in the nation.”

While citing the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report indicating a sharp drop on foreign capital inflow, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election affirmed that what the country requires now are jobs and opening up of the economy.

He added: “What Nigeria needs now, perhaps more than ever, are jobs and an opening up of our economy, especially after today’s report by the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that foreign capital inflow into Nigeria is at a four year low, having plummeted from $23.9 billion in 2019 to just $9.68 billion in 2020.

“Already, the nation suffered severe economic losses from the border closure and the effects of the #COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is definitely the wrong time to introduce policies that will restrict the inflow of capital into Nigeria, and I urge that the policy to prohibit the dealing and transaction of cryptocurrencies be revisited.

“It is possible to regulate the sub-sector and prevent any abuse that may be inimical to national security. That may be a better option, than an outright shutdown.

“There is already immense economic pressure on our youths. It must be the job of the government, therefore, to reduce that pressure, rather than adding to it.

“We must create jobs in Nigeria. We must expand the economy. We must remove every impediment towards investments. We owe the Nigerian people that much.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria in a circular on Friday ordered banks and other financial institutions to close customer accounts used in trading cryptocurrencies and other related transactions.

It directed deposit money banks, non-bank financial institutions and other financial institutions to “identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately.”

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