A rule of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Customer Due Diligence Regulations 2023 requiring banks to gather and validate clients’ social media handles as part of the Know-Your-Customer procedure has been upheld by the Federal High Court in Lagos.
According to the Judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, “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.”
This is in response to a complaint brought by Lagos-based attorney Chris Eke against the CBN, alleging that the policy is unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and in violation of a part of the 1999 Constitution.
The applicant sought a perpetual injunction to stop CBN from enforcing the aforementioned regulation, but CBN contested the suit’s validity in a notice of preliminary objection, arguing that the regulation did not infringe upon the applicant’s privacy.
The 2023-issued CBN regulation was intended to strengthen the comprehensiveness of client identification while also aiding in the fight against financial crimes and terrorism. In order to increase the precision and depth of customer identification, Nigerian financial institutions are mandated by Section 6 (IV) of the CBN regulation to gather and authenticate their clients’ social media handles as part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure.
According to Justice Dimgba, the applicant makes extremely ambitious allegations about how the CBN Regulations infringe his right to privacy. He revealed, “The said regulations are directed to and apply to financial institutions. It does not apply to private individuals such as the applicant.”
Continuing, he disclosed that even while the applicant’s claim might be contested, it is speculative because he was requested to supply his social media handle but did not disclose that he has an account with a financial institution.
Further speaking on the local news, he claimed that there was no proof that financial institutions were disrupting the public while enforcing the regulation, which would have allowed the litigation to be classified as one in the public interest.
Citing the Nigerian Constitution’s Section 37 on the right to privacy, the applicant may, nevertheless, decline to do business with banks that demand social media handles. A social media handle is equivalent to supplying an email address, phone number, and other details, the judge added. He therefore dismissed the lawsuit.
