The Ultimate LEGAL RECAP for 2024
A walk through the big legal moments that shaped Nigeria’s business and tech scene in 2024
What a year 2024 was for Nigeria’s corporate and tech world! From eye-popping fines for data breaches to bold moves in AI regulation and cryptocurrency oversight, the legal landscape was everything but boring.
I’ve rounded up all the major legal happenings in 2024—court rulings, new laws, policy changes, big fines, and everything in between.
If you’re a business owner, a lawyer, or someone who loves tech, you’ll want to stick around for this. It is your go-to guide for staying on top of the laws that could shape your business, tech innovations, or even your next big idea in 2025 and beyond.
Let’s dive in...
Here's a comprehensive timeline of notable legal updates and events in Nigeria from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, focusing on Corporate Law, Technology Law, Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Law, Data Privacy and Protection Law, Intellectual Property Law, Artificial Intelligence Law, and Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Law.
1st Quarter (January - April 2024)
The Nigerian Naira witnessed persistent depreciation against the US Dollar, and throughout this quarter, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued several circulars and policies to combat that depreciation and improve the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
On 1 January 2024, President Bola Tinubu signed the 2024 Appropriation Bill into law, directing all MDAs to provide monthly Budget Performance Reports to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to maintain a timeous, predictable, and efficient budget cycle. This Appropriation Bill, christened as the ‘Budget of Renewed Hope,’ prioritize defence and internal security, job creation, macro-economic stability, improved investment environment, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security.
On 5 January 2024, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) directed banks to deduct N50 (Fifty Naira) as Electronic Money Transfer Levy (ETML) from foreign currency (FCY) transactions. This charge applies to any type of account on sums of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) and above, starting from foreign currency transactions executed from January 1, 2021 (when the Finance Act became effective) to December 2023.. This directive follows the implementation of section 48 of the Finance Act of 2020, and section 89a (1) of the Stamp Duty Act of 2004.
On 10 January 2024, in an intellectual property ownership battle over the trademark and copyrights to the Netflix hit series, Shanty Town, the Nigerian Trademark Registry rejected a petition filed by Ini Edo and her production company, Minini Empire Productions Limited (MEP), regarding trademarks ‘SCAR’ NG/TM/O/2023/121745 and ‘SHANTY TOWN’ NG/TM/O/2023/97482 against Chinenye Nworah and her production company, Giant Creative Media (GCM), declaring the petition baseless and without merit, and confirming Mrs Nworah’s exclusive ownership of these trademarks. In a separate ruling delivered on July 24, 2024, the NCC dismissed a petition by Ini Edo and MEP concerning the cancellation of two copyright certificates issued to Chinenye Nworah for the literary work “Shanty Town” (Certificate Number LW10177) and the audiovisual work “Shanty Town” (Certificate Number CF1448). The NCC found no legal grounds for the cancellation and upheld the validity of the certificates, confirming Mrs Nworah’s rightful ownership of these copyrights.
On 18 January 2024, Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) initiated the Narcotic Drugs Serialisation Pilot Project, to improve the quality and security of medical items in the country’s medication distribution network, and limit the proliferation of substandard and falsified medicines.
On 29 January 2024, the CBN issued the Financial Market Price Transparency circular - to banks and other authorized dealers - requiring them to quote and display foreign exchange (FX) prices that reflect the actual market rate, so that people can easily compare prices to avoid overcharging.
On 31 January 2024, the CBN issued several circulars and guidelines namely;
The Reviewed Guidelines on International Money Transfer Services in Nigeria. The reviewed guidelines, addressed to all authorized dealers, international money transfer operators (IMTOs), and the general public improved the ease of doing business for IMTOs by outlining the regulatory requirements necessary to process, obtain, and operate an international money transfer services license in Nigeria.
The Harmonising of Reporting Requirements on Foreign Currency Exposure of Banks addresses the bank’s increased exposure to foreign currencies through their Net Open Position (NOP) - a financial metric to assess an institution’s overall risk exposure regarding foreign currency assets and liabilities. This Net Open Position incentivizes banks to hold long foreign currency positions with the expectation of profiting from exchange rate fluctuations, thereby exposing them to foreign exchange and other risks. This circular ensured that such risks were well managed by imposing several prudential requirements.
The Removal of Allowable Limit of Exchange Rate Quoted by the International Money Transfer Operator. Previously IMTOs were required to quote rates within an allowable limit of -2.5% to +2.5% around the previous day’s closing rate on the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market. However, this recent circular permits IMTOs to quote exchange rates for naira payouts to beneficiaries based on the prevailing market rates on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.
On 2 February 2024, CBN issued the Cash Reserve Requirement Framework Implementation Guidelines. With this circular, CBN ceased daily Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) debits and adopted an updated CRR mechanism designed to improve a bank’s capacity for planning, monitoring, and aligning their records with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
On 8 February 2024, the CBN issued the Removal of the Spread on Foreign Exchange Transactions circular. This circular aims to promote a market-based price discovery system. To achieve this, it removed any cap on the spread of interbank foreign exchange transactions and restrictions on the sale of interbank proceeds.
On 8 February 2024, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI), established three funds totaling
N200,000,000,000 (Two Hundred Billion Naira) to support businesses across Nigeria: The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS); The FGN MSME Intervention Fund; and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund. The Bank of Industry (BOI) was appointed as the executing agency of the funds, vested with the responsibility for its day-to-day administration.On 27 February 2024, the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 was signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This Act updated the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 to address new cyber threats and enforce stricter regulations for reporting cyber threats. Specifically, it amended sections 17, 21, 22, 24, 27, 30, 37, 38, 41, 44, 48.
On 16 March 2024, private websites that had access to and were selling the personal data of Nigerian citizens for as little as ₦100 or ₦200 (approximately $0.14) per request, were exposed. This data included National Identity Numbers (NIN), Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), driver's licenses, international passports, company details, Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), Permanent voter cards (PVC), and phone numbers. This is a data privacy crisis. Unfortunately, no steps have been taken to apprehend the culprits.
On 18 March 2024, A Federal High Court in Abuja instructed Binance Holdings Limited to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive data and information relating to all persons from Nigeria who are trading on its platform because there were ingredients of criminality associated with the operations of Binance in Nigeria, contrary to Sections 38 of the EFCC Act, 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (as amended). The directive was given in an interim ruling in February following an ex-parte motion (FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024) filed against the cryptocurrency exchange platform by the EFCC.
On 27 March 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the creation of a single-digit tax system with a maximum of nine taxes. A single-digit tax system where the total number of taxes a business or individual has to pay will be reduced to nine or fewer. The objective of this directive is to simplify the tax code and lower the overall tax burden. This directive will be effective after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms is completed.
On 3 April 2024, the Student Loans Access to Higher Education (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2024 was enacted to repeal the Student Loan Act of 2023 due to challenges with governance, applicant eligibility requirement, purpose, application, repayment, and recovery of loans. With the reenacted Act, the key provisions introduced include;
Extension of loan coverage to student maintenance allowance or upkeep (not just tuition fees).
The removal of provisions stating that loans are interest-free.
Removing the N500,000 individual/family annual income threshold to access a loan.
Mandatory national spread and inclusion in the disbursement of loans.
Allowing for exemptions in loan repayment in cases of death, hardship, or for reasons of equity
Dispenses with the application procedure in the current law including the requirement of two loan guarantors. Directs the Board to outline the application procedure and criteria via regulations.
Removal of provision that disqualifies any applicant whose parent had previously defaulted on a loan.
Restricting beneficiaries of previous government loans or scholarship schemes from accessing student loans.
Imposes a statutory duty on employers to find out the student loan status of their employees under the threat of a fine and/or jail term
On 24 April 2024, the
N200,000,000,000 (Two Hundred Billion Naira) fund established by the Federal Government through the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI) to support businesses in February 2024, was expanded to include Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) as well as manufacturers. This scheme is currently ongoing with its goal of assisting one million nano businesses, withN75,000,000,000 (Seventy-Five Billion Naira) each going to MSMEs and manufacturers respectively.
2nd Quarter (May-August 2024)
This second quarter featured policy updates, tech integrations, data privacy violations, Nigerian Naira versus cryptocurrency updates, tariff removals, and other activities from different government agencies, like the National Information Technology Development Agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, Data Protection Commission, and the Corporate Affairs Commission.
On 2 May 2024, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) issued the Implementation of Stamp Duty on Mortgage-Backed Loans and Bonds directive. The FIRS directed banks to levy a stamp duty charge of 0.375% on loans backed by legal mortgages, shares, debentures, or bonds. The charge will be applied to the value of the legal mortgage, shares, debentures, or Bonds and remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Services.
On 6 May 2024, CBN issued the Implementation Guidance on the Collection and Remittance of the National Cybersecurity Levy circular in line with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (Amendment) Act 2024 in Section 44 (1). It imposed a 0.5% cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions. Still, it went beyond the provisions of the Act by imposing this levy on everyone who initiates a funds transfer (barring 16 industry categories they, CBN, exempted) instead of the few companies outlined by the Act, and deducting the levy on every transaction rather than being 0.5% of all transactions within 30 days, as the Act says. The people protested and this circular was suspended.
On 7 May 2024, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) issued a public notice titled CAC and Fintech Operators, mandating all Point of Sale (POS) operators in Nigeria to register their business with the CAC by 7 July 2024. This deadline was extended to 5 September 2024.
On 7 May 2024, The Nigerian government announced a new regulatory framework to delist the Nigerian Naira from peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchanges to curb illicit financial activities.
On 9 May 2024, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicted former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, for contract fraud involving allegedly diverted public funds into accounts and companies tied to his family members and associates, influencing contracts for consultancy and airport construction, in the Nigeria Air debacle. Interestingly, the EFCC had previously arrested…
Unfortunately, this legal recap is too long to mail, but don’t fret.
I’ve compiled all the key legal updates, court rulings, and regulatory changes from 2024 into a free, easy-to-read ebook—complete with a quarterly breakdown, practical tips, and even predictions for 2025.
🎯 Whether you're a lawyer, entrepreneur, or tech enthusiast, this guide will help you stay ahead in a fast-changing legal landscape.
💡 Don’t miss out! Download your free copy now and stay informed
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