CBN offers relief on BVN

The Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) has extended the deadline for registration in the Bank Verification (BVN) exerciae to October 31, 2015 to enable more Nigerians take part in the exercise.
The former deadline of June 30, had created chaotic scenes in many banks across the country as many Nigerians rushed to the banks to beat the deadline.
A statement from the CBN said the decision to extend the exercise was due to “the passionate appeals from the public for the extension of the deadline for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) for the biometric registration exercise” after the expiration of the earlier deadline which expired yesterday, June 30, 2015.
The CBN said it “noticed with satisfaction the level of compliance among the banking public and also acknowledged the difficulties which the people have gone through in the last few days in the quest to beat the registration timeline. More so, arrangements are being made to enroll bank customers in Diaspora in the next few days.”
To this end, the CBN said it “considered it necessary to grant extension for the exercise to enable all bank customers to enroll in the BVN and to facilitate hitch free completion.
The Bankers’ Committee under the chairmanship of the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria had initiated the Bank Verification Number to capture biometric data of all bank account holders.
At the end of the exercise, “any bank customer without BVN attached to the account would be deemed to have inadequate Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement.”
However, before the CBN announced the extension of deadline for the BVN exercise, a pro-Democracy Non-governmental organisation – Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA ) had “condemned the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to subject Nigerian account holders to untold hardship because of the deadline unilaterally imposed on the so called Banks Verification Number.”
HURIWA therefore called for “the registration to be permanent and seamless rather than been undertaken in a military fashion.”
Read Also: 14m Nigerians may lose access to bank accounts

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