The Central Bank of Nigeria has made some adjustments towards the Biometric Verification Number exercise.
According to a statement signed by its Director (Corporate Communications) Ibrahim Mu’azu, the CBN said the exercise should go on indefinitely, despite the expiration of the deadline for registration.
“Account holders who are yet to obtain their BVN are enjoined to visit their banks and do the registration. There are two steps to the BVN process. The first step is to obtain a BVN while the second step requires the account holder to link the BVN with his or her bank account(s),” he said.
He said an individual could enroll for a BVN without necessarily having a bank account. Such individual can then submit the acquired BVN at any bank he/she wishes to open an account.
He said linking BVN to bank accounts is now a one-stop-shop which enables account holders to register and link their BVN to their accounts in one location, irrespective of the banks in which they have their accounts. All these are aimed at making the process as seamless as possible.
“The BVN is neither a payment instrument nor an account number and therefore cannot be used to access any account by unauthorised users,” Mu’azu said.
