Following investigation into fraud and money laundering allegations leveled against Nigerian fintech giant, Flutterwave and its counterpart, Chipper Cash, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has ordered all financial institutions in the East African country to stop doing business with the fintechs.

The order follows the announcement on Thursday by CBK governor Patrick Njoroge that both Flutterwave and Chipper Cash are not licensed to operate in Kenya.

“Flutterwave is not licensed to operate as a remittance provider or for that matter as a PSB service provider in Kenya. They are not licensed to operate and therefore they shouldn’t be operating. We can also say the same for Chipper Cash,” he said.

The CBK’s bank supervision deputy director, Matu Mugo, directed all regulated banks, microfinance and mortgage finance institutions to cut all their relationship with the two startups with immediate effect.

“It has come to the attention of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) that Flutterwave Payments Technology Limited and Chipper Technologies Kenya (Chipper) have been engaging in money remittance and payments services without licensing and authorization by CBK…You are therefore directed to immediately cease and desist from dealing with Flutterwave and Chipper,” said Mugo in the letter.

Early this month, a Kenyan court had ordered the freezing of the companies’ accounts for money laundering. The court said that both Flutterwave and Chipper Cash were among over 50 companies carrying out illegal activities in Kenya.

Following investigation, Kenya’s Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), told the court that the accounts of seven targeted companies were used as conduits for money laundering in the guise of providing merchant services. The agency said it began investigations after suspicious activities and transactions in the seven companies were flagged on suspicion that they were proceeds of crime. It also said that the fintechs was illegally operating in Kenya, because it has no valid license from the CBK.

The development is a huge blow to the two startups that are occupying prominent positions in African fintech market. Flutterwave is the most valuable African fintech at $3 billion valuation while Chipper Cash is believed to have attained the unicorn status.

It is also seen as a potential setback for the African tech market that has been riding on huge investment funds from investors across the globe. African startups raised $1.2 billion in Q2 2022, indicating a 15% drop from the total funding raised in Q1.

However, Flutterwave and Chipper Cash’s lack of license has been attributed to Kenya’s irregular license schedule. Flutterwave started operation in Kenya in 2016, while Chipper Cash was launched in the country in 2018. 

As Nigeria’s revenue shortfalls bite harder, the federal government has been seeking alternatives to the dwindling oil revenue that the non-oil sector has failed to upset.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed that the federal government has finalized plans to introduce additional 5% tax on all telecom services, including calls, SMS, and data services.

Zainab made the new tax plan known at a stakeholders’ forum organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission on Thursday. She said the plan will help the federal government to offset the deficit emanating from poor oil revenue.

“The issue of revenue is not something that need to be shy away from, our revenue can no longer take care of our needs as a country. Also Nigeria is no longer making enough money in oil revenue hence the attention is shifting to non-oil revenue,” she said.

The minister, who was represented by Musa Umar, Assistant Director, Tax and Policy, appealed to stakeholders to support the new tax plan.

However, the development has been greeted with scorn as it is seen as an attempt to compound Nigeria’s economic woes. Responding to the concern, Ahmed made reference to other African nations such as Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, who she said have successfully implemented such tax regimes to generate more revenue.

Although the minister allayed fears that the new tax plan will result in suffering with the promise that it will be implemented in a manner that bears no negative impact on Nigerians, many, including telecom industry stakeholders, disagree.

Engr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, said the telecom industry won’t be able to absorb the impact on behalf of subscribers.

He lamented that the federal government is shifting taxes to services instead of goods and products. He said that subscribers will bear the burden as the telecom industry is already feeling the weight of 39 different taxes.

“It is a strange move, it appears a bit unusual. Excise duty is supposed to be apportioned to goods and products, but we are surprised this is on services,” he said.

“We currently pay a lot of taxes, running into 39 of them, so we can’t add more to our existing burden. We won’t be able to absolve this on behalf of subscribers. The five per cent excise duty will be paid by the subscribers. It will collected by the operators on all voice and data services including OTT and remitted to the Nigerians Customs”, he added.

The telecom industry served as Nigeria’s economic cash cow in the wake of the pandemic that crippled economic activities globally. But recently, the industry has been seeking approval for upward review of the cost of its services, including data, calls and SMS. It said the Russia-Ukraine conflict has resulted in a 35% hike in operational cost amidst other factors in the country that have made business difficult.

Thus, the implementation of a new telecom tax will leave the industry with no choice than to increase tariffs for its services.

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Since the beginning of the year, electioneering towards the 2023 general elections has been on the increase and the campaign for voters’ registration and Permanent Voters Card collection has been gathering momentum across the social media platforms. The PVC campaign which is a movement championed by the Nigerian youths has one major objective which is to ensure a mass involvement of the youth population in the forth coming elections in February 2023.

For so long the Nigerian young electorates, especially youths in the southern regions of the country have been associated with political apathy which has also been connected to the political gridlock being experienced in the country today. Thus, the PVC campaign aims to change the narrative. Many celebrities, religious leaders and other key personalities have also joined in the campaign with some of them declaring ‘’no pvc no show’’ ‘’no pvc no appointment’’ or ‘’no pvc no admittance into the church’’. Some employers have also been teased to consider such position while implementing their pay roles. Thus, the PVC has been a major means of identification and recognition among the Nigerian youths. And it seems to be working effectively considering the recent statistics of the Nigerian registered voters by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which revealed the youth population is at the forefront of the voters’ list.

However, there has been a growing concern about how the movement may be thwarted by some politically driven actions and thus prevented from achieving its intended objective.

A few weeks back, a Facebook user posted on his page advising the Nigerian electorates to be careful with how they handle their permanent voters cards which have become highly valued commodities at this period of elections. The poster expressed fear that soon PVCs will be a major target of theft banditry and public harassment in the country. According to the poster:

‘’If you already have your PVC, please leave it at home or go and deposit it in a bank safe…Them fit start to dey raid now, and instead of collecting money and phones, dem go collect your pvc’’
‘’if you want to use it to get any discount, just snap am for your phone, use am do screen saver’’

The post which was obviously intended for humour generated some affirmative responses in the comment section. Someone responded as follows:

‘’dem don kuku collect my own…abeg where dem dey do new one for island?’’

Another person responded, “una neva see something.”

This revelation on the social media on the 13 June 2022 would later appear as an insightful premonition of what Nigerians stand to experience through out the coming elections.

On Thursday 28 July 2022 it was reported that no fewer than 320 PVCs were discovered in an uncompleted building in a forest in a community in Bayelsa state. The PVCs were said to have been recovered by members of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service during their routine patrol in the area on Tuesday.

While delivering the recovered PVCs to INEC, the leader of the local security group claimed they had noticed some hoodlums in the bush who had possession of the PVCs. As soon as the hoodlums sighted them, they scurried away, and they were able to recover the PVCs.

Meanwhile, earlier on July 14, the Cable had reported citing a trending video that a number of PVCs were allegedly buried somewhere in Imo state.

The repeated cases of stolen and cornered PVCs have been a major cause for concern about the security of the voting rights of Southern Nigerians and the credibility of the forthcoming election.

Reacting to the problem, INEC said it does not take the allegations lightly and it is currently investigating into the matter and will ensure the culprits are brought to justice. “We will not allow retrogressive elements to sabotage the ongoing efforts towards having a free and credible elections come 2023” it says.

INEC also said that while the Continuous Voters Registration has been impressive due high turn up from the electorates since the second quarter of this year, the rate of PVC collection has not been encouraging. According to the electoral commission, PVCs have been printed for all valid registrants in Nigeria up to 14th January 2022 and delivered to all states of the federation for collection by the voters. The commission also said it will soon start road shows and inter state tours to ensure registered voters collect their PVCs.