Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Court over the failure to halt regulation requesting banks to provide their customers with social media handles.
SERAP disclosed this in a statement on Sunday by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.
DAILY POST recalls that in June the apex Bank issued a Customer Due Diligence Regulation 2023 directing banks to obtain information on customers’ social media for identification.
But, in suit number FHC/L/CS/1410/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP sought that the court should compel CBN to withdraw the regulation.
According to SERAP, CBN already has ample means to verify customers including Bank Verification Number, Tax Identification Number, Driver’s licence, and Passport.
SERAP added that implementing the regulation would impede on the rights to freedom of expression and privacy of banks’ customers.
“The CBN Regulations and directive to banks and other financial institutions would impermissibly restrict the constitutional and international rights to freedom of expression, privacy and victims’ right to justice and effective remedies.”
“Requiring social media handles or addresses of customers as a means of identification would have a disproportionate chilling effect on the effective enjoyment by Nigerians of their rights to freedom of expression and privacy online.”
Meanwhile, DAILY POST gathered that no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.