Customs Delay BVN Registration In China, India

With only few weeks to the October 31 deadline, Nigerian bank customers living in India and China may have difficulty registering for their Bank Verification Number (BVN) as customs officials delay commencement of the registration process.
This, according to the managing director and chief executive of Nigerian Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Ade Shonubi, is because materials to be used in the registration process in India and China are still being held by custom officials of the two countries.

Shonubi while speaking with journalists last week revealed that NIBSS which is spearheading the BVN is having challenges in clearing the registration materials in Bo India and China for over three weeks.

“We have devices that are stuck in India and China and for the last three week we have been unable to get them out. And these are devices that are meant to be set up there but we can’t get their customs to review and release it.

“Capturing people’s information in countries is difficult unless you do it within the laws of that country and most developed countries do not allow you to freely capture the biometric information of their citizens and that is why we are forced to use the Nigerian embassy because we tell them that is Nigerian soil.
Stating that the October 31 deadline still holds in line with the decision of the CBN, he said NIBSS only has the capacity to recommend an extension if asked by the CBN. According to him, about 20 million Nigerian banks’ customers already have BVNs.

Noting that NIBSS is engaging another agency which works with the Nigerian embassy in some other countries such to join Online Integrated Service (OIS) in the registration of bank customers in diaspora he said “we have gone live in Dubai, in UK, in US and in South Africa. It has been a lot harder than we thought to get to open those places.

“In addition to OIS, there is another company that is working with the Nigerian external affairs that we are now asking to go to places like Canada, Australia but we have not finalised with them. Our aim is to have representation in every continent as a first step and in large continents, more than one presence.”
However, for those who have registered but are yet to receive their unique identification numbers, he said NIBSS has partnered with Etisalat and Airtel to provide a USSD code by which BVNs can be requested.

Customers who have registered for BVN can now dial *565*0# on their mobile phones to call up their BVN under the collaboration. While the notification service has gone live on Etisalat, bank customers using Airtel lines will have access to the service from next week Wednesday, September 16, 2015.
Speaking in Lagos, Shonubi said the collaboration is expected to go beyond the request of BVNs to bring in more people into the Nigerian banking system.
Explaining how the USSD short code notification service works, the chief marketing officer of Etisalat, Francesco Anjelone said the *565*0# will only work with the numbers attached with the accounts and the BVN is delivered to the mobile phone via SMS. The service will cost N10 per SMS.