President Bola Tinubu has signed a Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination to harmonise the regulation of digital assets, strengthen oversight and protect Nigerians from fraud.
The Presidency disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to the statement, the Executive Order, signed pursuant to Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, takes immediate effect and provides a coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets without creating a new regulator or stripping existing agencies of their statutory powers.
Onanuga said the order became necessary due to the rapid growth of virtual assets, which have created regulatory overlaps and gaps across currencies, securities, commodities and payment systems.
He noted that the fragmented regulatory system had exposed Nigeria to risks such as money laundering, terrorism financing, cyber threats, data privacy breaches, fraud and revenue losses.
“The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies,” the statement read.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Council to provide policy direction and coordinate regulatory activities.
The council will be chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, while the Nigeria Revenue Service, NRS, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, will serve as vice-chairmen. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, and the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
