Bala Na’Allah, deputy senate
leader, says he prefers to count his money himself than invest in bitcoin.
Na’Allah said this on Tuesday
while speaking on a motion entitled ‘The need to investigate the proliferation
of Bitcoin in Nigeria’.
It was sponsored by Benjamin
Uwajumogu, senator representing Imo north.
“I don’t do internet banking. I
like to count my money myself. I’m analogue, I don’t want to go digital. It is
safe that way,” he said.
“They will just go and pop up
something and return them (Nigerians) back to square one. It is not nice, it is
not ethical and I think we must intervene in this kind of situation.”
Earlier, Uwajumogu noted that
Nigerians were persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency for quick returns.
“Aware that JP Morgan, the
world-renowned investment bank, in a conference held in New York City USA, and
as reported in the US guardian, noted that ‘the digital currency (bitcoin) was
only fit for drug dealers and would eventually blow up’,” he said.
“The MMM bubble of 2016, left
millions of Nigerian families broken, devastated and many businessmen lost all
their capital in the phony scheme. That the primary objective of the government
is to protect the life and welfare of its citizens, including their
investments.”
He said the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission, National
Orientation Agency (NOA) were not doing enough to educate Nigerians on the
investment risks inherent in bitcoin.
Also contributing to the motion,
Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, said such investment should be
regulated by the authorities.
“Many lost their lives due to
MMM. No country, no intelligence agency will allow financial scams like MMM,
Bitcoin to operate in the borders of their country. Nigeria is so docile that
everything comes in,” Melaye said.
“If it is a lottery, it should go
through national lottery commission; if it is a form of exchange of currency,
the CBN can regulate that. The motion is coming because as a senate we need to
defend the people.”
The senate therefore urged the
CBN and the NSE to make an unequivocal statement across all the news platforms
in all dialects on the “dangers of bitcoin”.
The senators also called on the
NOA to spread the news against all forms of wonder banks and Ponzi schemes
operating in the country.
Last week, Godwin Emefiele,
governor of the CBN, said investing in cryptocurrency such such as bitcoin is a
risk that could not be supported by the apex bank.
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