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| CBN Headquarters, Abuja |
As the October 31st
deadline for the enrolment for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) ended
yesterday, many banks across the federation were swarmed with customers on
Friday to complete their BVN just as many closed down their accounts to avoid
any backlash. A
visit to some banks within Lagos
metropolis and its environs, customers’ turnout was massively high.
In
Festac town, Mushin, Ikeja, Yaba, Maryland, Ojota, Ketu, Mile 12, Ikorodu and
its environs, most of the banks were overflowing with customers who were
desperate to be captured.
The Nation report continues:
At
Zenith Bank premises in Matori, Mushin area of Lagos, bank officials sweat it
out to enrol customers for the BVN, as most of the customers formed long
queues.
The
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had extended the deadline for the BVN exercise to
October 31 after banks were inundated by last minute customers to beat the
earlier deadline back in July.
The
Nation was reliably informed that the bank had anticipated the rush and had
made provision with about three staff members handling the exercise of registering
such customers outside while other banking activities went on inside.
Adeolu
Olugbemi, a customer in one of the new generation banks told The Nation that
due to his busy schedules he couldn’t complete the BVN exercise hence he was
forced to close down his bank account.
He
said, “several times I came to my bank with the intention of doing my BVN but
each time I came the whole place was overflowing with crowd and since I
couldn’t withstand the drudgery of standing on the queues for hours I had to
close my account today (Friday). I can’t afford to face CBN penalty.”
Another
customer who simply gave his name as Stanley told our correspondent he also
couldn’t complete the BVN. “I was at the bank yesterday (Friday), when I got
there, they ask us to pick numbers and I was 120 on the queue. After waiting
for over one hour it still didn’t get to my turn so I had to close my account
with the bank as suggested to me by one of the bank officials,” he said.
An
official of Diamond bank in Wuse who also preferred not to be mentioned said
although there was an upsurge of customers rushing to beat the deadline for the
registration it was nothing compared to the previous deadline. She said the
bank had made provisions and would ensure that they attended to all the customers
at the bank for the registration.
At
GT Bank Area 3 Garki, over 20 customers were seen waiting to either register or
submit their BVN to the bank. One of the bank’s customers, Miss Onyeche Audu
said, “I am just entering the bank and I am sure I will leave here soon because
the bank is really managing the crowd.”
However,
there were very few customers trying to carry out the BVN registration at Eco,
Zenith, Fidelity, Stanbic IBTC and Unity banks.
Speaking
with a cross-section of the officials of these banks, they confided in The
Nation that they were optimistic that “after the registration, the CBN would
get the cards ready after which the banks would distribute them to their
customers.”
Meanwhile,
a few hours to the close of banking business on Friday, the CBN issued a
statement warning unsuspecting customers of the activities of those it
described as “certain unscrupulous individuals sending unsolicited mails and
text messages to unsuspecting bank customers, alerting them to the deactivation
or suspension of their bank accounts due to uncompleted Bank Verification
Number (BVN) registration process.”
The
apex bank warned individuals and the general public that such “messages are
intended to lure bank account holders to reveal their personal details with
which the fraudsters could use to defraud them.”
The CBN and deposit money
banks nor their employees or agents the statement said “would never call bank
customers or send e-mail/text messages requesting for passwords, card details
or personal identification number (PIN).”
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