Linus Williams popularly known as B Lord, a popular crypto vendor and socialite recently ran into trouble with law enforcement agencies as he was arrested (or invited as they claim) by the cybercrime unit of the police and has been under detention for days.
He may be found innocent of all the allegations levelled against him but it is obvious that where he got it wrong is from compliances and failure to get the necessary licenses and certificates for his Fintech (bill point ) before they went full operational hence why one of the allegations on him which is the most grievous one is terrorism financing.
Nigeria is not a banana republic, there are laws and compliances guiding every line of business or investment. If you run a Fintech in Nigeria, you must get compliance certificates/licenses from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Security Agency (NSA), the State Security Services (SSS), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) etc and your platform must have a strong Know Your Customers (KFC) verification that there must be traces of everybody moving money in and out of the platform and their identities must be known and their addresses verifiable if not you can be charged with terrorism financing which is a serious offence in Nigeria; B Lord could be charged with financing IPOB, ISWAP or even Boko Haram.
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Therefore, before you get into any business or invest in any line of trade in Nigeria, consult a lawyer to highlight all the compliances and regulations guiding that line of business/investment and you should comply with all of them (to the latter) if not you can be shut down any time by the government agencies and charged for a crime and you can even end up in jail.
For instance, if you’re into real estate or auto dealerships etc after your incorporation with the Corporate Affairs Commission, one of the compliances that is mandatory is for you to get a certificate from the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and you are expected to report back to the EFCC on a regular basis if not the banks have been directed to freeze your bank accounts if you fail to comply and you could be charged with money laundering.
If you carry out investment banking/ management or managing of funds in Nigeria, one of the required compliance is that you must get a license or register with Capital Market Operators (CMO) of the Security and Exchange Commission if not your operations are illegal and can be clamped down anytime by the government.
Also, if you are in the business of Telecommunications or any other line of business where citizens’ data can be shared or traded, you must follow the compliance of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as well as other compliances or else your operations are illegal.
In all, your business must be incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is the first and foremost compliance for every business and you must always file your annual returns with the CAC or your business could be struck off the CAC database.