Nigeria: Court Okays Central Bank’s Policy On Submission Of Social Media Handles By Customers

By Enyichukwu Enemanna

Policy of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandating customers to submit their social media handles to financial institutions as part of their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedure is not a breach of the right to privacy, Federal High Court sitting in the country’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos has ruled.

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A Lagos-based lawyer, Chris Eke has filed a suit seeking a declaration that the regulation as contained in Section 6(a)(iv) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations 2023 is undemocratic, unconstitutional, null and void.

He argued that the regulation is not consistent with Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

He therefore asked the court, to grant an order of perpetual injunction, restraining CBN from enforcing the regulation which requires financial institutions, to request customers’ social media handles as part of normal bank customer due diligence requirements.

In response, the CBN filed a preliminary objection, challenging the competence of the suit.

The apex bank also disagreed that the said regulation constitutes any interference with the private life of the applicant, as claimed by the applicant.

In his ruling on Thursday, the presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba held that the notice of preliminary objection filed by the CBN had merit, and he subsequently struck out the suit.

The provision of a social media handle is the same as the provision of email address, phone numbers and other means by which a potential customer of a bank can be contacted and or due diligence, to determine if the person is a fit and proper person for the bank to do business with, and as such, the regulation does not amount to an infringement on the right to privacy, the judge ruled.

According to Justice Dimgba, the essence of having a social media account was for one to be publicly visible communication-wise, and it would be highly unreasonable to hold the CBN in breach of privacy for it.

The judge held that “First, the Applicant claims that the requirements on the CBN Regulations for financial institutions to request and collect the social media handle of its customers as part of KYC infringes on his right to privacy.”

“This claim is very ambitious and amounts to a very far throw. The said Regulations are directed to and apply to financial institutions. It does not apply to private individuals such as the Applicant.

“Even if, as appears to be argued, that the Regulations itself would inevitably affect the Applicant, this claim is speculative for the simple reason that in nowhere in the affidavit in support was it stated that the Applicant operates an account with a financial institution and that the said institution had demanded his social media handle. So the suggestion that he would be affected by this Regulation, albeit negatively, is very speculative and at large.

“Secondly, there is also no deposition to the effect that any financial institution had begun to implement this Regulation and that its implementation had begun to create disruptions and inconvenience against the general population, in which case one could infer that the suit should be legitimated as a public interest litigation.

“Thirdly, assuming even that the banks had begun to implement these regulations, the applicant assuming he maintained any bank accounts or sought to open one, but is being hindered or irritated by the requirement of the Regulation to avail his social media handle as part of KYC, the Applicant still had a choice, which is to refuse to do business with any bank insisting on the information as part of its social media handle, but to seek other alternatives.”