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BVN Deadline: Anambra Citizens Call For Extension

Barely 24 hours to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deadline for the registration for Bank Verification Number (BVN), citizens in Anambra State have called … Continue reading BVN Deadline: Anambra Citizens Call For Extension


BVN

BVNBarely 24 hours to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deadline for the registration for Bank Verification Number (BVN), citizens in Anambra State have called for an extension of the exercise.

The citizens are demanding for another one month, to enable those in the rural areas to participate.

While speaking in Awka, the Anambra State capital, some of the residents said that many people are yet to be verified, due to reasons ranging from time constraints to access to where banks are located, especially for those in the rural areas.

They, however, hailed the Central Bank initiative on the BVN exercise, as they agreed with the need to check trends in the banking system, in order to ensure sanity while clamping down on corruption and fraud.

According to the data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in September 2015, out of about 52 million active accounts owned by adults and children in various banks, the total enrollment for the BVN stood at about 20 million.

About 32 million of bank customers were yet to register and obtain their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), less than five weeks to the October 31 deadline.

The BVN scheme was introduced by the Apex bank in collaboration with the bankers’ committee on February 14, 2014.

This is aimed at ensuring a unique identity for every bank customer and other users of financial services in the country, through the use of customers’ bio-metrics as a means of identification.

Recently, the CBN announced that prospective buyers of foreign currencies must show their BVN to banks and Bureau De Change operators before they would be allowed to do the transactions. This is to take effect from November 1.