This evening, the official Twitter account of the FG put out a thread of tweets asking all account holders in financial institutions (banks, insurance companies etc.) to fill and submit a self-certification form to their financial institutions.

The main gist is that every person with an account with any Nigerian financial institution is required to fill a self-certification form (we don’t yet know what that means) and submit it to their banks etc.

This directive comes from the FIRS, who claim that the forms are required by “the relevant financial institutions to carry out due diligence procedures in line with the Income Tax Regulations 2019.”

Remember when the CBN/FG mandated every person with a bank account within Nigeria to get a BVN? This is just like that. We expect there to be tons of people at the banks.

Nigerian banks and crowds don’t mix, and with a pandemic raging on, we wonder if this decision was well-thought out.

The real question, however, is: why are we constantly required to fill endless bio-data and other forms despite the BVN exercise mandated in 2014?

1. Of course, Nigerians are none too pleased with the FG about this development:

2. We aren’t the only ones who think this wasn’t well-reasoned by the FG:

3. Others are asking very pertinent questions:

4. Others don’t give a fuck:

5. At the end of the day, it’s important to realise how we got here and the changes we need to effect:

Update: The Message Does Not Apply To Everybody

The Federal Government has just come out to state that the self-certification forms do not apply to everybody. I guess we can relax now.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) who are the body in charge of federal taxes in Nigeria will issue the appropriate clarification shortly.

Read: Nigeria Wants To Fight Corruption With Another New Agency