In a bid to alleviate the pressure on individuals and corporations struggling to meet the deadline for linking Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and National Identity Numbers (NIN) to their accounts, the Association of Telephone, Cable TV, and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS-Nigeria) has advocated for a three-month extension.
The National President of ATCIS-Nigeria, Sina Bilesanmi, emphasized the need for more time in an interview on Monday, held in Abuja.
The call for an extension comes in the wake of the March 1 deadline set for the linkage, which has now passed, leaving many individuals and entities facing potential disruptions to their banking services.
The BVN-NIN linkage is a crucial requirement aimed at enhancing the integrity and security of banking transactions. Still, its implementation has encountered challenges, particularly regarding access to NIN registration centers and the cumbersome process of updating banking records.
Bilesanmi urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline in order not to compound citizens’ plight with the rigorous process involved in linking their accounts.
ALSO READ : Looted Abuja warehouse not ours – NEMA
He expressed dissatisfaction with the process that account holders went through just to link BVN/NIN to their accounts considering the bad network experienced by telecoms in the country.
Bilesanmi said, “Many of the banks have restricted access to bank accounts not linked to the NIN as directed by the CBN.
“I urge the CBN to extend this by three more months so that people will not go through rigorous processing,” he said.
According to him, while the policy is a good move to improve banks’ Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, its implementation is worrisome.
He added, “We are all aware that it is a good policy for the system to have good KYC, but unfortunately, what we have are challenges with its implementation.
“Before you give a deadline, you must have provided the access points. As of today, we have about 104 million NINs out of 200 million people expected to have NINs.
“It is the same thing with the BVN, which as of the last report was about 59.9 million out of 134 million expected bank accounts. That means we have over 70 million accounts, which will be affected.
“Based on ATCIS research, about 300 Local Government Areas (LGAs) out of the 774 LGAs in Nigeria have no bank branches.
“So, who are those who are going to provide BVN enrolment at those LGAs? It means that our members are going to run into trouble based on the policy.”
However, customers from different banks have been lamenting network failure in major banks they visited in recent times
CBN had in a circular on Dec. 1, 2023, directed banks to place restrictions on all tier-one bank accounts without BVN.
Tier one accounts are those that can be opened with a valid identity or proof of address.
As the deadline approached, some banks sent out messages to their customers to regularise their accounts per the new CBN directive.
While some asked customers to visit their physical branches, others made provisions for customers to update their accounts online.
NAN
