Nigerian Government vs crypto, Freelancers in danger and a government that hates the future

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As if things aren't screwed up as they are right now, the Nigerian government is taking further steps to mitigate the trade of crypto in Nigeria. Their recent move to protect the Naira from international influence could be termed "desperate" in a weird way.

The word on the street is that the government now installs sleeper agents on P2P trading platforms to flag individual accounts that are involved in crypto trading. I haven't experienced it or had my bank account closed yet, but the story is that the government is going as far as infiltrating exchanges.

@edicted highlighted the possibility of the government actually hacking my BSC wallet and while there's no proof, this recent move, if true, shows that there's nothing beneath this government. Personally, I don't think it was the government but looking at the way things are going, it genuinely feels like the walls are closing in on me.

For now, my bank hasn't threatened or mentioned anything to me about my activities, and that's because I don't make regular transactions and I don't interact with sums that could raise any flags. However, a time might come when I have to do so and I fear for the worst then.

In any case, this move by the Nigerian government has made everyone very conscious of their crypto activities. There have also been rumored abductions and break-ins by the police into homes of individuals who work from home.

Working from home is a crime

Right now, everyone is a "suspect" for the police force. First of all, there was a recent memo published by a bank that stated that they were going to inspect the accounts of individuals between 18-30 years of age.

Interestingly, this age range is also where most freelancers, designers, coders, and entrepreneurs that generally work from home fall. This is also the age range of most crypto entrepreneurs in the country.

So, as it stands today if you're a young person in Nigeria and you're earning "suspicious" amounts from crypto trading, staking, or any other activity online, you're under the radar of the government financial watchdogs.

It is a witch hunt

What's really funny about this situation is that crypto trading or any related activity wasn't officially declared as being illegal in the country. The information about crypto was only discussed in a memo by the Central bank that suggests banks should close the accounts of any individual that's trading crypto.

There's no jail term, it wasn't passed in the legislature and so, it's not even a law. Seeing as it's not a law, there's really no need for law enforcement to act on it because IT IS NOT A LAW.

In Nigeria though, where we deceive ourselves that it's a democracy but in reality, it is more of a mafia, the central bank makes a circular and police harass you based on it.

Now all the young people I know that trade crypto is on high alert. The country is making outlaws out of us because we refused to work in their corrupt system and earn peanuts for hard labour.

The real reason

The government pretends like the witch hunt is because of crypto's effect on the economy, but the reality is that it's because of control.

The beef with cryptocurrencies started sometime last year when there was a nationwide protest against the activities of corrupt police officers. During that time, the government used every means to stop the protests, including shutting down the bank accounts of different sponsors.

The protesters then resorted to using cryptocurrency and that couldn't be shut down. A few months later, the Central bank governor comes on TV to claim that cryptocurrency is a threat to National security and said all sorts of error-strewn crap, I don't even want to bother typing it.

Now we're here, and crypto is still being hounded by the "leaders" that claim they like the youth. They claim they want the youth to thrive but that's on the condition that we're their lackeys.

Now they're turning youths into outlaws when they should be bringing us close. They're ignoring the fact that Nigerians are growing in a field of emerging technology, and fighting us when they should be encouraging us.

In the near future, many crypto enthusiasts will exit the country and we'll go to societies that appreciate our skillset. We'll live out our days safely away from our own country because it hates us.

At some point, the penny will drop in the eyes of the government but by then, it'll be too late because they've already planted the seed of hate. At that point, there'll be even more brain drain from Nigeria and they'll start pleading with us to return. I don't know about others but when I leave this country, I'm never coming back.


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26 comments
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Sleeper agents? I wouldn't put it past the government to actually do that, I was telling someone on my post yesterday that a time might come when young Nigerian would be jailed for working from home and having money in their accounts but they felt I was bluffing. It's totally criminal whats happening with the banks, especially CBN pulling their weight around

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WHat I hate most about the banks is that, it was only a circular that was spraid. So in essence, it was merely a suggestion by the central bank that isn't even enforcable by the law.

The banks are picking the side of the government, over their clients. Fucking sellouts.

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The banks wants to remain in business I guess, so many banks don't want to be fined by CBN but this only ends one way. Overtime the banks will run at loss, emefiele's reign of terror is something else.

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Banks don't know that at some point, Emefiele will leave office and that it's customers that give them money. They're doing boy boy for government. E go over them.

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The story is just so pathetic
Thanks for reiterating that it is not a law.

I wonder why the LEA are all heads up. And what power does the Nationality Assembly wield in cases like this please?
There should be a way to appeal or repel such.

Even some of the banks who understand financial management are surprised at this development.

You re right it all stemmed from the protest, is this a reprisal?

This has just taught our generation that not voting is just as wrong as voting in the wrong personalities.
Moving on, thats if the electoral process can be given a pinch of trust. Sadly.. It gives no hope.
One would rather get out and never come back.

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If I'm still in Nigeria by the next election, I'm definitely voting. Not taking any chances.

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Same goes here.
I m sure the youth have seen enough reason to. And not sit on the fence.

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Now they're turning youths into outlaws when they should be bringing us close. They're ignoring the fact that Nigerians are growing in a field of emerging technology, and fighting us when they should be encouraging us

Their huge mistake. They are so outdated that they do not see that their methods of zombifying people no longer work. The future belongs to these young people, including you! The changes won't come quickly, but they're on their way! Hold on!

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That's what they don't realise. We're going to outlive their old asses and we'll never bow to their whims

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It is so! And decentralization will open many eyes over time...

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I am tired of this country and I wanna leave. Is it a crime now to be living a fine life and not off the peanuts they feed us.

It pains me that I am still schooling if not, I would have searched for a close by african country to run to.

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I've thought about that but other African countries aren't very friendly to us. Not like they'll kill you or anything, but I like to think about the bigger picture

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Yeah, Nigerians are not really liked everywhere. I felt it would be easy to move to an African country than Europe or America because they mostly deny visas to those countries.

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You just have to use school or get a work visa and you're good.
Other African countries are easy to move to but will you be able to get a job there as a plan b?

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Hmmm true.. they might not want to give work to Nigerians… so it’s best to finish my bsc here and process masters outside to another country right.

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Yeah, I think that's the best option for you. Start to gather the money now. Have a savings in HBD, USDT or any other stable coin. Be moving funds into it small small.

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Hmmm… like how much do you think I need to gather at least to move to a country like Canada, America or Europe.

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The thing is that, for most of these countries, you need to have your proof of funds and that's money that you won't even spend. They just want you to have it in your account.

For example, for UK, you might need to have the school fees of like $13-20k then also hold like $4k.

I saw one school in Canada that school fees is $10k. So you also need to hold like $4k. All na money you no go even spend.

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So that amount of money only needs to lie on one’s account and one cannot spend it. I would also need another amount of money that I would also be using for my spending separately.

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Here's the thing. So let's say your school fees is $15k and proof living cost is $9k, you need to have it in your account for like three months.

The $9k is what you're suppose to spend when you get there. However, you might now spend so much of it because you go get work.

The $15k is your school fees. You can pay that one in installments

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Na to work and study be the thing… Then from there, I would want to become citizen. That’s the goal for me.

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It's heartbreaking, it's a pain in the ass and it's uncalled for. I'm stressed, I'm tired, I'm not happy. For years I've been looking for a good and stable way to make legit money and when I finally just started to get a head start into the crypto world, our fucked up government are being so foolishly pained.
I don't even know what the future holds for us all, Nigerians are beginning to spread all over the world all in the name of finding a better life when we have a very rich nation with enough resources to offer a way more better life. Instead of this government to empower youths in the line of cryptocurrency and bring about policies that would support this move and enjoy the benefits it'll bring on this country, they're busy playing like uneducated individuals and acting childish.

I certainly hope you'll be able to recover what you lost slowly, you put in a lot of hardwork for it, you deserve to reap the fruits of your labor. We're praying for you bro.

I can't say if it'll be okay, but I can only hope for all of us to be safe

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Thank God I don't have a dime in my account, all my money is in crypto. Have been saving with crypto for a long time now, investing and doing everything to escape poverty because I know my country doesn't have any plans for me but to destroy the little I'm gathering.

Seriously, I wish I can just live here and make something big out of nothing but this country nawa, I love my country but hate the government and I know we will win these destiny destroyers.

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Forgive my language but F&#K them! We'll find a way to still thrive and when we do, gather enough resources, we'd leave. And yeah... I'm never coming back!

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