Senate on Thursday began debate on a bill seeking to amend the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 to empower the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to designate and supervise systemically important non-bank financial institutions, particularly major fintech operators whose activities now constitute critical national infrastructure.

Leading the debate, Tokunbo Abiru, sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, said the amendment had become urgent due to the rapid transformation of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem and the emergence of large technology-enabled service providers operating at a scale previously unseen in the country.

Abiru noted that fintechs such as mobile money operators, payment service banks, wallet providers, digital lenders and switching companies now serve tens of millions of Nigerians, process huge daily transaction volumes and hold vast pools of sensitive financial data, yet operate within a regulatory framework that has not fully evolved to match their systemic importance.

“The reality today is that a non-bank institution, because of its market dominance, data concentration, customer reach or technological capacity, may pose risks equal to or even greater than those posed by a traditional bank,” Abiru said.

“We are therefore confronted with a regulatory gap that leaves critical parts of the financial system operating outside the highest tier of statutory oversight. This bill seeks to correct that mischief.”

He warned that without modernising BOFIA, the country risked exposing itself to data insecurity, foreign control of sensitive financial infrastructure and vulnerabilities that could undermine national security.

The senator stressed that many fintechs operate across foreign-owned networks, store customer data offshore, or use cloud systems outside regulatory reach, raising concerns around data sovereignty.

“Today, we cannot say with certainty where all the financial and behavioural data processed by some of these institutions is stored, who has access to it, or which foreign jurisdictions may lay claim to it,” he said.

Abiru recalled the temporary CBN restriction on fintech onboarding in April 2024, following issues around KYC compliance, money-laundering red flags and suspicious transactions, a development that, he said, demonstrated the limitations of existing regulatory tools.

The amendment bill proposes five key objectives, including establishing a statutory framework for designating systemically important institutions, creating a national registry of fintechs, empowering the CBN to impose enhanced supervisory requirements, strengthening data sovereignty, and improving consumer protection.

He dismissed suggestions that a new regulatory agency should be created for fintech oversight, arguing that such duplication would fragment regulation and undermine efficiency.

“Fintech regulation is deeply intertwined with monetary policy, payments oversight, prudential supervision, and systemic-risk monitoring, functions that already reside naturally within the Central Bank,” he said.

“International best practice overwhelmingly favours integrating fintech oversight within existing regulators, not creating new bureaucracies.”

Abiru urged the Senate to support the bill, which carries no financial implications under Senate rules.

Contributing to the debate, Adams Oshiomhole, former president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), shared the experience of how his accounts were once hacked, disclosing that the hackers accessed him through one of the Fintech banks.

Oshiomhole also said the identities of most of the key owners of online operators were not known and might not be held accountable for infractions since there was no law binding them to any commitments.

“I know the directors of our regular banks, but I can’t say the same of these Fintech banks.

“I don’t know the directors of MoniePoint, Opay and all others”, he added.

Oshiomhole further argued that when properly regulated through an enabling law, the operations of online financial institutions would better serve the interest of Nigerians.

Senators unanimously passed the bill for second reading and referred it to its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions for more legislative work.

A major shake‑up rocks viewers and subscribers of DSTV/GOTV as many channels are set to shut down and be removed on January 1, 2026.

The trigger for the upcoming shut‑down is a breakdown in negotiations between the owners of multiple global channels and the pay‑TV operator.

As of December 2025, the deal between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and DStv/GOtv has expired and the two parties have not reached a renewal agreement.

Without a new carriage/distribution agreement, the channels belonging to WBD risk being pulled off the DStv/GOtv line‑up.

This is the most significant content cutback the service has seen in years.

The affected channels are:

Discovery Channel

TLC

Cartoonito

Cartoon Network

CNN International

Food Network

The Travel Channel

TNT

Investigation Discovery

Real Time

HGTV

Discovery Family

Paramount Africa is officially shutting down at the end of December 2025, drawing the curtain on more than two decades of operations in South Africa and Nigeria.

The company, which once reached over 100 million viewers across 52 African territories, confirmed it will close its doors as part of a massive global restructuring at its parent company, Paramount Global.

This is the same Paramount Africa behind channels like BET, MTV, MTV Base, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and more.

Its digital footprint has also been significant, with millions of monthly page views, social media engagements, and content partnerships across Africa.

But despite that scale, rising costs and a global strategic reset have caught up with the business.

Paramount’s retrenchment has been building for months.

Earlier this year, plans to launch a standalone Paramount+ app in South Africa were quietly shelved.

Then in August, the company said its content would remain available only via DStv and Showmax.

And last month, MultiChoice confirmed that BET Africa and MTV Base will disappear from DStv and GOtv on January 1, 2026, as Paramount Africa winds down entirely.

The shutdown is tied to aggressive cost-cutting after Paramount’s merger with Skydance. The company is targeting a 15% reduction in global staff and $3 billion in savings.

International divisions, including Africa, have taken the hardest hit as the business pivots away from linear TV and doubles down on a more streamlined streaming-first model.

At the same time, the global media landscape is being shaken by Warner Bros. Discovery’s chaotic auction. Netflix, Paramount, and Comcast have all submitted fresh bids for WBD, with some offers reportedly focusing on the studios-and-streaming division, home to HBO, HBO Max, DC, and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Analysts say the crown jewel bundle could go for as much as $70 billion, a deal that would reshape Hollywood and accelerate the decline of traditional TV.