Gbajabiamila seeks legislation for crypto-currency

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that there is a need to come up with legislation on crypto-currency, which is gradually becoming acceptable all over the world.The Speaker said the legislation became necessary to regulate transactions involving crypto-currency for Nigeria not to be left behind.

Gbajabiamila, who spoke during a visit by the board of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) led by its Chairman, Ronke Sokefun, said he believed the corporation’s mandate was critical to the financial sector of the nation’s economy.He said the House would structure the corporation to enhance the agency’s statutory functions and also 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 crypto-currency, 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, G-20, met in Osaka, Japan and one of the issues they discussed was block-chain technology and crypto-currency.

“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 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.‎”

The Speaker 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 had 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 that the NDIC had 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.