The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled the guidelines for the enlistment of Nigerians in the diaspora on the BVN initiative, according to CBN circular released to Nigerian commercial banks.
The development will allow Nigerians in the diaspora, get their BVN numbers without the need to come to Nigeria, albeit only in the following cities — London, Dubai, Leicester, New Delhi, Washington DC, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Guangzhou, New York, Beijing, and Houston.
All that is needed of Nigerians staying abroad who wants to register is to present themselves physically at their bank’s branches/subsidiary, where facilities have been made available. The bank said it will add other cities based on demand.
According to the CBN, “The deployment of scanners and devices to these locations have started in earnest. Nigerian banks abroad are expected to capture necessary data, generate a BVN and communicate same to the customers. Thereafter, the customers are expected to forward the assigned BVN to their banks, for linkage with their accounts.”
A web portal to achieve linkage to bank accounts has been developed and deployed, while the process of such linkage will be made available by the Nigerian interbank Settlement System(NIBSS) to all those enrolled abroad.
There had been anxiety over the fate of Nigerians in the diaspora as regards registration and acquisition of BVN.
The other option is through a contractor — Online-integrated solutions (OIS), engaged by CBN to record necessary data, and give out BVN numbers, but at a fee of £30 to the customer.
The BVN, an initiative by the CBN to identify bank customers was initially slated to close on June 30, but was later postponed to October.
