By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Many Nigerians were shocked by the new directive of the Federal Government asking all account holders to self-certify themselves by filling up forms in their respective financial institutions.
The announcement came with a threat that if any account holder fails to self-certify themselves, their account would be blocked and a monetary fine impose on the defaulters.
The tweet, which came from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), did not specify why the self-certification was more important than the Bank Verification Number (BVN), which is a condition in operating a bank account.
A tweet from @ojileernest speculated that the reason could be national security. “I don’t think the government meant any harm in asking for self-registration. I am guessing it is an issue of National security and for the interest of everyone. Let us trust the government on this one,” he said.
He got a response from @oxygole who said: “Am not sure you live in Nigeria or maybe you have gone to your bank since the beginning of the pandemic because if so, you won’t say what you just said. National security? What happened to using our BVN? NIMC? Sim registration?National ID card? Voters card? All those are waste ba?”
Another tweeter user, @HoneyteeG said the government may be after internet fraudsters with the new self-certification.
“Though the stress is unimaginable considering the harsh economic realities we have now. But I think this will curb internet fraudsters who are still in active services despite BVN,voters card and NIN. If you have ever been a victim, you will appreciate this move,” she said.
@johnsonpioneer disagreed: “Found it difficult to believe that the current information they have is not sufficient to investigate financial crime. How will this new request help?,” he queried.
@Joe_nsoke wondered: “I thought they are fighting covid-19. So they want queue in banks abi? What happened to BVN,National ID or Voter’s Card which we used when opening the account.”
@Inyangson_ advised: “FG, kindly instruct Banks to send the self-certification forms via E-mail, or your defunct NIPOST to reduce crowd and delay deliberately caused by the sluggishness of bank staff. Nigerians are sick of your anti citizen’s policies. Trouble us no more biko.”