Deposit Money Banks will from today (Monday) begin to request for the Bank Verification Numbers from their customers before providing basic banking services.
This followed the Saturday expiration of the October 31, 2015 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for all bank customers to obtain their BVN.
As of Friday, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc, the organisation in charge of the BVN project, said 20.8 million customers had so far registered and obtained their BVN.
The NIBSS, which is owned by the CBN and the DMBs, had last week said it had spent over N8bn on the BVN project.
According to the Managing Director, NIBSS, Mr. Ayo Shonubi, there are 45 million bank accounts in the country.
But the CBN has said that the number of bank customers who have not obtained their BVN should be far less than this figure given the fact that an average Nigerian owns about two to three bank accounts.
“Given the tradition of multiple account-holding by an average Nigerian, which could be conservatively estimated at about two or three per an account holder, therefore, it could be safely assumed that over 40 million accounts might have been enrolled to the BVN,” the central bank explained on Thursday.
“Furthermore, some Nigerian bank customers in the Diaspora have taken advantage of more facilities provided for enrolment in more locations abroad.
“It is evident that there has been less pressure in banking halls across the country, which goes to buttress the fact that a greater percentage of account holders have been enrolled with the exception of those yet to link their accounts to their BVN.”
Shonubi had last Monday expressed optimism that all bank customers would register before the October 31 deadline.
As of Friday, only a handful of customers seeking to obtain the BVN were noticed in banking halls across the country.
Punch
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