19 Million Nigerians Have Enrolled For Bank Verification Number
The number of Nigerians that have so far enrolled for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) scheme has risen to 19 million.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Mr. Musa Jimoh, who disclosed this at an interactive session with journalists during the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-Monthly Forum held in Lagos at the weekend, urged bank customers who were yet to enroll on the BVN platform to endeavour to do so before the expiration of the October 31 deadline as there would be no further extension of the registration period for the exercise.
According to him, customers who do not obtain their BVN at the expiration of the deadline may not be able to deposit into or make withdrawals from their accounts. He emphasised that there would be no hiding place for people who use multiple identities to perpetrate fraud in the industry after October 31, 2015 when all bank customers are expected to have their BVN.
The CBN top official pointed out that the BVN would also allow the industry to determine the actual number of bank customers in the country.
“There are various estimates of the total number of bank customers in the country. But some people have two or three accounts. However, with the BVN, we will be able to know how many bank customers we have in the industry.”
It would be recalled that the CBN had extended the initial June 30, 2015 deadline for the BVN registration by four months to October 31, 2015. The BVN, which is an initiative of the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee, was launched on February 14, 2014.
