Nigerians who fail to meet up with the deadline will be prevented from making withdrawals, transfers, or debits from their accounts
By Kehinde Okeowo
Many Nigerians and other non-Nigerian bank customers have expressed their frustrations as the March 1 deadline for the linkage of Nigeria National Identification Numbers (NIN) to Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) approaches.
This follows a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular in 2023, which mandated all bank customers to complete the full profiling of accounts established through agents within the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System.
In the statement, the apex bank said all funded accounts or wallets must be placed on “Post No Debit or Credit” status, with no further transactions permitted until compliance is achieved.
It also required the electronic revalidation of BVN or NIN associated with all accounts and wallets by January 31, 2024 in compliance with amended Section 1.5.3 of the Regulatory Framework for Bank Verification Number (BVN) Operations and Watch List for the Nigerian Banking Industry (The Guidelines).
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Consequently, any unfunded accounts or wallets that are not linked by March 1, 2024 would be immediately subjected to a “Post no debit or credit” status until they are successfully linked.
This means restrictions will be imposed by banks on specific accounts, disallowing customers from making withdrawals, transfers, or debits from their accounts.
As the deadline approaches, there has been a notable increase in customer traffic within banking halls as individuals endeavor to link their BVNs and NINs to their bank accounts.
Speaking on the rush to meet the deadline, some Nigerians revealed they have been battling with long queues because of surge in numbers of customers, others, however, decried the poor network connectivity in the banks.
A customer in one of the banks in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who simply gave his name as Fred said: “I have been here since 8 am, and they have not been able to link my NIN to my BVN. The network is slow, and there are numerous people in the queue for the same reason.”
Visit to several banks in Abuja City Centre showed substantial queues in banking halls as customers sought to avoid potential restrictions on their accounts in the final 48 hours before the deadline.