Nigerian Banks Can Start Collecting Customers’ Social Media Handles for KYC Checks, High Court Rules
Tthe Lagos Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Dimgba, upheld a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulation requiring financial institutions to collect social media handles from customers as part of their Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures.
- Justice Dimgba dismissed a lawsuit filed by Lagos-based lawyer Chris Eke, who argued that the regulation, as stated in Section 6(a)(iv) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023, was undemocratic, unconstitutional, and inconsistent with Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
“For all it is worth, I do not see how asking a banking or potential banking customer to provide his social media handle can ever amount to a breach of privacy,” the judge reportedly said.
- The judge added that requiring a social media handle is comparable to requesting an email address or phone number. All these contact details serve as methods for a bank to reach out to a potential customer and conduct due diligence to assess their suitability for banking services. As such, this regulation does not violate customer's right to privacy.
Per HRF's CBDC tracker, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched its CBDC (eNaira) back in 2021. However, the CBDC has failed to gain any meaningful adoption in the last two years.
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