A new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulation requiring financial institutions to request and gather their clients’ social media handles as part of the routine Know-Your-Customer process has been upheld by the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, declared in a decision on Thursday, May 16, that the regulation does not violate bank customers’ right to privacy.
A lawsuit brought by Chris Eke, a lawyer in Lagos, sought a declaration that the Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023, specifically Section 6(a) (iv), were unconstitutional. Judge Dimgba dismissed the case.
According to Eke, the new CBN regulation violates Section 37 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to the point where it is undemocratic, unconstitutional, and void (as amended).
To prevent CB from executing the rule requiring financial institutions to request consumers’ social media handles as part of standard bank customer due diligence procedures, the applicant had petitioned the court to obtain an order of permanent injunction.
In response to the lawsuit, the CBN filed a notice of preliminary objection, raising issues with the suit’s legality. The apex bank also rejected the notion that the aforementioned restriction interferes in any way with the applicant’s private life.
Justice Dimgba dismissed the lawsuit after ruling that the notice of preliminary objection was well-founded.
According to the judge, giving a social media handle is equivalent to giving a bank’s email address, phone number, or other contact information so that the bank can conduct due diligence and decide whether the person is suitable for doing business with. For this reason, the regulation does not violate someone’s right to privacy.
Justice Dimgba argued that being publicly visible in communication was a prerequisite for having a social media account, and it would be absurd to hold
