Nigeria to issue electronic CCIs

Nigeria will today commence the issuance of electronic certificate of capital importation (CCI) the document given to individuals and firms making investment with a view to facilitating the repatriation of such capital of the resulting dividend should the case arise.

Today will mark the close of preparations which began in 2012 when the idea first mooted.

A test run for the issuance was held by the Central Bank and the banks on Friday to perfect the process and BusinessDay learnt that for a week or two, the electronic and the traditional versions will be issued and if the process is able to cope, there will then be a cut over at the end of this initial period.

Investors coming into the country have long been advocating the migration to electronic CCIs because of the risk of damage of outright loss that was associated with the hard copy version.

Segun Sanni, CEO of Lakewood Investment Trust who has chaired the steering committee since his days at Stanbic thank the apex bank for all the support provided to his team.

He said We are ready to go live from Monday (today) and we are all excited that Nigeria can now join the rest of the world in making this critical migration.

According to him, one major advantage of an electronic CCI is that once issued, the Central Bank is able to remotely monitor and audit the process and with the press of button, able to know the value of CCIs issued by the country over a given period of time.

“This is a baby step but it adds to the efforts we are making as a nation to improve the environment for doing business”, Sanni said.