May Honourable Femi Bamisile's Led Ad Hoc Committee Succeed!

When, three weeks ago, the Speaker of the Nigeria's House of Representatives, Honourable Tajudeen Abass , inaugurated an ad hoc committee for cryptocurrecy and POS operations in Nigeria, it immediately dawned on me that a new chapter in the history of digital asset regulation is about to be written.  

As a strong believer in the rule of law and due process, I have consistently expressed my indignation towards the one-size-fit-all approach taken by the SEC to the exclusion of other regulatory agencies. This was a radical position to take. It earned me both commendation and excoriation, and most importantly, it pitched me directly against Nigeria's SEC. 

Barely twenty-four hours after the ad hoc committee chaired by Honourable Femi Bamisile was announced , I drafted a letter that I intended to send to the committee at an opportune time. Then came the indefatigible comrade Oye Benson whom I met on LinkedIn. He told me about how he came in contact with Honourable Bamisile through his uncle and asked me to embark on a journey with him to Abuja to meet Honourable Bamisile in person. 

Meeting Honourable Bamisile provided a window of opportunity to talk about the pain points of the Nigeria's digital assets industry. I saw in Honourable Bamisile a father figure and an unassuming thoroughly bred legislator which this country deserves. He patiently listened to everything we had to say and agreed that we needed to effect a change through the LEGISLATIVE STROKE. 

The absence of a comprehensive digital asset framework has stalled the progress of Nigeria's crypto industry. To change that you need to start from the right place and with the right motives. Every piece of digital asset legislation move in two directions: either as a new law or an addition to existing ones. But the most encompassing approach is to create a new law for digital assets given their novelty and idiosyncrasies.

At the recent public hearing organized by the ad hoc committee, I had the opportunity to articulate my points. I delivered a speech centered on the need to recognise the delicate balance between innovation and regulation; I called for a forward-looking regulatory framework ; and I restated my position on the prohibitively high capital requirements the SEC imposed on virtual assets service providers under its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP).

The recent hearing was the biggest legislative gathering of all the key stakeholders in the Nigeria's crypto space. It is a positive sign that the ad hoc committee led by Distinguished Hon. Femi Richards Bamisile, the representative of the good people of Emure/Gboyin/Ekiti-East Federal Constitiency, is bound to succeed.