Ayorinde OluokunAbuja

Relief came the way of millions of Nigerians who have been keeping vigil across banking halls across the country in the past few days to beat the deadline for Biometric Number Registration, BVN ahead of the Tuesday, 30 June deadline for the exercise as Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has announced the extension of the exercise to 31, October, 2015.

CBN in a circular to all Deposit Money Banks signed by Dipo Fatokun, its Director of Banking and Payment Systems Department on Tuesday said the extension was necessary given the tremendous interest shown in the exercise by Nigerians who have formed crowds in banking halls across the country as well as the need to give Nigerian Banks’ customers in diaspora the opportunity of enrolling for the programme.

Nigerians in diaspora had also complained that the CBN did not make arrangements that will facilitate their registration in the programme without having to travel down to Nigeria.

CBN said in the circular that the extension will also enable it to fashion out arrangements that will take care of this class of Nigerians.

The CBN had earlier indicated that any customer who failed to undergo the BVN registration will be denied full compliment of banking services at the end of exercise which was originally scheduled to end this Tuesday.

There were fears that over 14 million bank customers may be denied access to certain banking services if the CBN had stuck to today’s deadline.

The full circular to Banks on the extension of the deadline reads: “You would recall that as part of its efforts in the implementation of Bank Verification Number, BVN, Project, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued circulars stipulating milestones for the successful completion of the project. One of such milestones was that by June 30, 2015, all Deposit Money Banks, DMBs customers should have BVN. Any bank customer without the BVN attached to the account would be deemed to have inadequate requirements with respect to the Know Your Customer, KYC guidelines.

“It has come to our notice that the BVN registration has elicited tremendous interest from the Nigerian banks’ customers who crowded the banking halls, in order to beat the deadline. Furthermore, there is need to give Nigerian Banks’ customers in diaspora, ample time to enrol on the programme. The guideline for their enrolment is being finalised and will be released soon.

“In view of the foregoing, it has become imperative for the Bank to extend the timeline for all bank customers to have the BVN. The deadline for enrolment is hereby extended from 30 June 2015 to 31 October, 2015. This extension is expected to facilitate a smooth completion of the registration exercise.”