BVN: customers call for extension as exercise ends June 30

As the deadline for the verification of
customers’ bank accounts ends on
Tuesday, June 30, customers in Kaduna
State, Northwest Nigeria, on Monday
besieged banks trying to have their
accounts verified.
Surprisingly, with less than 24 hours to
the deadline, not many of the customers
were aware of the process or the
deadline.
Customers who were yet to enrol had
been gripped by fear that their bank
accounts would be frozen and the
insistence on the BVN by bank cashiers
before attending to customers also
heightened the fears, leading to
unusually large turnout of customers
at banking halls in the state capital on
Monday. customers had a hectic day
trying to register their account
numbers due to poor network and
insufficient bank officials to attend to
them.
Some customers trooped to the banks
as early as 7am to ensure they register
their account numbers. Sadly, the
entire process seemed to be epileptic as
only a few of them were able to have
their account numbers verified, forcing
them to spend over six hours waiting to
be verified.
Reacting to the development, most of
the customers called for the extension
of the deadline for a period of two
months to enable them register their
numbers. Some of them, however, called
on banks to simplify the process by
making it possible for them to be
verified over the internet.
Some bank customers in Abuja who have
not obtained their BVN have also asked
the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend
the deadline set for the registration.
Also in Port Harcourt the Rivers State
capital, it was a last minute rush at
different commercial banks as
customers tried to collect their BVN
ahead of the proposed dead line.
Some customers said it is a good idea to
gather data but wondered if the time
frame for collection would allow many
people to meet up with the deadline.
They expressed frustration at the
process involved in the BVN
registration.
According to the CBN during a meeting
of the Bankers’ Committee in Abuja
about three weeks ago, customers who
are not enrolled in the system by June
30, could be cut off from some services.
The BVN gives each bank customer a
unique identity across the Nigerian
banking industry. The goal of the Bank
Verification Number is to uniquely verify
the identity of each customer.