The level of exposure of a leader or should I say the level of liberalism goes a long way to dictate the policy direction of the leader.
It is unfortunate that Nigerian leadership between 2015 and 2023 threw away the bathwater with the baby because of their limited understanding of cryptocurrency.
There is something I have come to understand about most leaders. Once a leader is at the verge of failure, he or she will find who to blame in order to exonerate himself. This is exactly what happened with cryptocurrency in Nigeria.
Before 2020, the government's body language wasn't very pleased with cryptocurrency but they allowed it. It was a case of hating something but waiting for a slight reason to express the hatred. A case of giving a dog a bad name to hang it. This was the unfortunate thing that happened during the 2020 Endsars protest.
Nigerians, especially the young population, had been complaining about police brutality but the government paid a lip service to it.
When it reached the point of exceeding elastic limits according to Hooke's law, the youth mobilized themselves to the street to protest an end to police brutality. The government immediately froze the accounts of the organizers in the centralized banking system. The protesters resorted to cryptocurrency to keep up with the financial demand of the protest. When the government had no reasonable way to handle it, some state sponsored hoodlums hijacked the protest in order to provide a reason for the government to come hard on the protesters. Indeed, they achieved their aims. The security forces ended the protest with force and human rights violations.
The government couldn't swallow the fact that a financial world exists that could defy their control. It takes a government pronouncement through the court to get an account with the centralialised commercial banks closed. They couldn't do this with the web3 decentralized technology in the crypto world. The aftermath was the ban of cryptocurrency in Nigeria.
I was hurt with the decision because many Nigerian youths who had lost hope in the system found solace in cryptocurrency. They began to gain some financial support from their legitimate actions in the world of cryptocurrency. The increase in numbers of hopeless youths making it through cryptocurrency became a source of concern to the government. The government wants to dictate everything to the citizens in the financial world.
Many youths earning a decent living through cryptocurrency trading began to experience harassment from the security personnel.
One thing that the government fails to understand is that every platform being run by humans for whatever reason is bound to be abused by some users. A good and supportive government would find a way to address the cases of abuse. The government of that era chose to ban it totally.
Nigerians are a group of resilient people. If you close a thousand channels that are beneficial to their survival, they will find the 1001th channel to keep moving.
Like I said from the beginning, the policy direction of a government is dictated by the level of exposure of the leader. The coming of a new government last year served as a sigh of relief. The president knew better than his predecessor about the benefits of cryptocurrency to Nigerian youths.
The ban on cryptocurrency was lifted.
I was very happy because it makes people more free to identify with cryptocurrency. The current government implemented two policies on assumption of office that had a great toll on the nation's currency. Naira fell drastically in value against the dollar. The situation got worse to the extent that Naira lost almost 300% in value.
As usual, the government began to suspect many institutions and cryptocurrency exchange platforms. They came hard on Binance with an accusation that the platform is being used to launder money. I read the allegations but I don't understand the report yet. I am still consulting people to understand the allegations leveled against binance by the government.
For now, naira has been removed from the exchange platform. With the level of cooperation of Binance with the government presently, I believe that the issue will be sorted out soon and Naira will be included on the platform again.
One good thing is that the present government doesn't resent cryptocurrency like its predecessor.
In all of these, I am not panicking for once. With the global trend, cryptocurrency has come to stay. All I think about is how to keep building up my activities on the blockchain. I need to learn more about the blockchain and aim for more accomplishment on the chain.
One good thing about Nigerians is that we are very resilient in getting things done. If not for our resilience, surviving in this country would have been difficult.
Whatever harsh policy the government unleashes on cryptocurrency tomorrow, an alternative option to keep moving will always be devised.
The only thing that can stand the test of time against any harsh policy by the government is unity of the citizenry in support of cryptocurrency.
The voice of the people, when united, is stronger than the voice of the government.