Customers rush to beat BVN registration deadline

Customers yesterday besieged banks nationwide in a bid to beat today’s deadline for the completion of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) which will enable them to have unfettered access to their accounts They, They, however, complained of shortage of forms, failure of banks to alert customers that have completed the process and other general hitches characterised the BVN registration process. Some bank customers who are yet to enroll on the BVN platform called for an extension; while others attempted to close their accounts for fear that they could be denied access to their money at the expiration of the deadline.

But the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ruled out extending the BVN registration deadline. Out of about 40 million bank customers, available data indicated that less than 20 million had been registered as at yesterday. Checks by New Telegraph at bank branches in Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and other major cities in the country showed that customers were at the banks even before the offices were opened for business to complete their BVN registration. At Access Bank branch located within the premises of the FMBN Corporate headquarters at Central Business District Abuja, our correspondent witnessed a large crowd of customers struggling to fill the BVN forms in order to complete the process. The same trend was observed at Unity Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc – all within the premises and vicinity of FMBN premises.

Banks located on the outskirts of the Abuja metropolis experienced a similar development. 

The huge crowd slowed down normal banking transactions of deposit and withdrawals as banks’ staff had a hectic time coping with the crowd. At the Central Business District centre of Access Bank branch, New Telegraph overheard a customer complaining to a bank official that though he completed the BVN registration two weeks ago, he was yet to get his BVN number through a Short Messaging System (SMS). Another customer said the registration forms were insufficient to go round the crowd.

A bank official who declined to be named told our correspondent that she and her colleagues had been under pressure since last Thursday attending to a large number of customers she described as “late BVN process starters.” She blamed the customers for waiting until the last minute to come for the registration, pointing out that the process had been on for the last six months. Similarly, in Lagos, customers complained that banks did not assign adequate personnel to handle the exercise even when it became obvious that many people would wait until the last minute to register. A bank customer at First Bank branch at Agidingbi, Bose Oguntoyinbo, said: “I arrived at the bank by 8. am and I did not register until 2 pm. The crowd was just so much.” She urged the CBN to extend the deadline so that more bank customers would be enrolled on the BVN platform.

 

Also, in Oyo State, customers besieged commercial banks to register for the BVN. Some of the banks had to create a special arrangement where the customers were kept outside the banking hall before they could be attended to. At the First Bank branch, Mokola, Ibadan, the management avoided a situation where the banking hall would be jam-packed by mounting a canopy within the premises of the bank where they directed anyone for the BVN registration to wait until he could be attended to. A customer who identified herself as Tolu, said: “In fact, the situation is chaotic today.

I don’t know when I am going to leave here with this huge number of customers. It is a mistake that I did not register until now. Many like me who believe that there was still time waited till today to face this rigour.” Asked whether the exercise was worth the trouble, Tolu said: “I believe so. The aim, I was told, is to plug the series of holes through which fraud was being perpetrated through banks. I think it will have positive effect on all of us. A situation where strange money would be deposited in innocent people’s bank accounts and later withdrawn without the account owner knowing or having access to it will be prevented.” Bank customers in Pankshin, Plateau State, also for called for the extension of the BVN registration.

The only two operating banks in Pankshin, UBA and Unity Bank Plc, were crowded with customers jostling to beat the deadline. Some of the customers, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), appealed to CBN to extend the deadline. Hajiya Hadiza Yusuf, a housewife, said she was not aware of the ongoing verification till last weekend. “My friend and I left our children at home in Dengi, Kanam Local Government Area, to Pankshin for the exercise but we are afraid if we can register,“ she said. Mr. Litpan Ezra, a student of the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, appealed to CBN to consider those yet to register. Ezra said many would not be able to register, adding, “The authorities should extend the deadline and equally go on massive enlightenment campaign to enable those in the remote places register,” he said. But the CBN has rejected appeal to extend the registration deadline.

Director, Corporate Communications, CBN,Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, said the deadline for registration remained today. He added that bank customers were given adequate time and CBN expected they should have taken advantage of the period scheduled for the exercise to register. Contrary to the speculation that customers who do not have BVN will be prevented from making transactions such as payments and withdrawals, Mu’azu said only customers using remote access services: Internet banking, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and other online services would not be able to transact. Meanwhile, the CBN has concluded arrangements to enroll Nigerians living abroad that have bank accounts in Nigeria on the BVN platform. New Telegraph had reported that the exercise, which is expected to commence today, would begin with those living in the United Kingdom.

The registration, according to CBN sources, would be executed through the outlets of Outsourcing Services International (OSI) and extended to the United States as well as China. New Telegraph learnt that the technical partner to the BVN project, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the CBN have sealed an agreement to this effect with the OSI. Hitherto, Nigerians in Diaspora had been worried about how to enroll for the BVN – with most of them lamenting that it makes no economic sense for them to travel down to Nigeria for the exercise. There are millions of Nigerians residing overseas executing banking services in Nigeria through various electronic platforms.