*Some knew about BVN scheme weekend

By Babajide Komolafe, Favour Nnabugwu, Jonah Nwokpoku, Mildred Ibrahim, Ojo Babatunde, Usuwa Olachi & Efughi Favour

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, will tomorrow meet with chief executives of banks to review the ongoing enrolment of bank customers for the Biometric Verification Number, BVN, and decide whether to extend the deadline, which expires today.

Meanwhile, customers that failed to enrol for BVN by the end of today will not be allowed to operate their accounts until they enrol for the scheme.

A top official of CBN, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed this to Vanguard, saying the Bankers Committee will meet tomorrow and review the exercise.

He said: “The official position is that after tomorrow (today) customers will not be able to operate their account until they enrol for BVN. The enrolment is continuous and does not end tomorrow (today).”

On the possibility of extending the deadline, he said the Bankers Committee will meet on Wednesday to review the situation and decide whether to extend the deadline or not.

The CBN official said: “So let us wait till July 1 to know whether or not there would be an extension.
“This is because once you extend it, people will relax and not take the BVN serious. So I can tell you there might not be an extension of the deadline.”

Complaints over non-issuance of BVN

Meanwhile, the exercise has been trailed by complaints over non-issuance of BVN to customers months after their biometrics had been captured.
A customer, Mr. Bright Peterside, said: “It has been two months since I did mine and was given a seven digit temporary number. But till date, I have not received my BVN as promised. What should do?”

Similar, Prince Adekola Abdullah Opeyemi said he had registered for three weeks and is yet to receive alert for BVN. Another bank customer, Mr. Atado Obunike’m, said: “It is now more than five weeks that I registered for the ongoing BVN exercise. But I have not received any confirmation alert.”

When contacted over these complaints, an official of Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS, Mr. Akinwa Tunde, said: “It maybe that the banks have technical challenges. The customers should try and complete the process.”
He added that NIBSS will, however, act on the complaints.

Customers besiege
Lagos banks
Banks across the country witnessed unprecedented crowds, as customers tried to beat the deadline.
When Vanguard visited some banks in Lagos, there were huge turnouts of bank customers for the exercise.
At Coconut branch of Guaranty Trust Bank, GTBank, for instance, many customers turned out for the exercise as indicated by the long queue at the branch.
Speaking to Vanguard, one of the bank’s staff, Mr. Bidemi Kadri said: “The BVN exercise is definitely going to end on Tuesday (today). I do not think there would be an extension.”
One of the bank’s customers, Friday Awhotu, who had spent about two hours on the queue, said with the number of people yet to register, it was unlikely that all customers would be enrolled before the deadline.
At Ibafon branch of Access Bank, there was a low turnout of customers for the exercise.
Meanwhile, at the Union Bank branch in the same area, there was a mammoth crowd and a very long queue.
One of the customers on the queue, Mr. Idoko Napoleon, told Vanguard: “I hope this exercise does not end tomorrow (today), because most people might not be able to get enrolled. More so, what is the fate of those who have travelled out of the country?”
When Vanguard visited Keystone Bank at Second Avenue, Amuwo Odofin, there was a long queue of customers.
A customer care attendant, who did not want her name in print, told Vanguard that the bank will comply with CBN’s directive to end the exercise today irrespective of the number of defaulters.
At Kirikiri branch of Ecobank, a customer care representa-tive, who preferred anonymity, confirmed that the bank will end the exercise today.
He said: “The BVN exercise is going to end at the last day of June and I do not know if CBN will extend the exercise.”
A customer, Mrs Victoria Ibe, lamented the long queue at the branch, saying “I have been here with my kids since 2:30p.m.,” she said.
Time was 4p.m. when Vanguard visited.
She added: “After filling the form, nothing has happened and the queue is discouraging. I might end up not doing the exercise on Tuesday (today) again because I have to go to work, pick my kids from school and with the number of people yet to do this BVN, the queue might even be longer on Tuesday (today).”

For those who travelled
At UBA Kirikiri branch, there was a very long queue.
A customer, Mr. Lucky Nwakolobia, said it would be necessary to extend the exercise, especially to allow those who have travelled out of the country to still be part it.
He said alternatively, CBN could make provisions for registration by proxy to enable those who are unavoidably out of the country to enrol.
He said: “I came to the bank to ask if I could help my older brother, who travelled abroad last week, to register.
“I do not know if the bank will allow me to help him because he is a businessman and he needs the bank for his transactions over there.
“I pray that they extend the exercise till December so that people who are abroad can come back and participate.”

In Abuja
A chaotic situation was recorded in the premises of most banks in Abuja, yesterday, as hundreds of customers besieged their banks in a bid to beat the deadline for the BVN enrolment.
Customers that have more than one bank account, were seen with pieces of white paper that has their BVN.
In most banking halls, including Zenith, UBA, Diamond, GTB, First Bank, Union Bank, EcoBank in Area 3, 7 and 8, Garki, Wuse and Kubwa, bank workers had difficulty controlling the crowd, as most customers expressed fears that they might not be able to access their accounts after the expiration of the deadline.
A customer, Hamza Lawal, who spoke to Vanguard on why he waited long to register, said he was busy with his business and kept postponing it until he was told that the registration expires today.
He said: “I was told that I will not only be unable to access my account, I will also lose the money in the account.
“If the deadline is extended, I am sure I will leave the registration for another day because even today is not convenient for me. But I had no choice.”
An official of a bank in Area 3 told Vanguard that it was the usual practice of Nigerians to wait until the last minute to do anything.
She said throughout last week, only few people were walking in and out of the banks to register, adding that tomorrow (today) will be worse as more people will troop into banks.
NIBSS recently revealed that 14 million customers had registered for BVN and the number had been projected to increase to 20 million by the end of today.

Customers call for
deadline extension
Bank customers in Pankshin, Plateau, have called for the extension of the deadline for the BVN registration.
The only two functional banks in Pankshin, UBA Plc and Unity Bank Plc, were crowded with customers jostling to beat the deadline.
Some of the customers, who spoke with newsmen appealed to CBN to extend the deadline.
Hajiya Hadiza Yusuf, a housewife, said she was not aware of the ongoing verification exercise till last weekend.
She said: “My friend and I left our children at home in Dengi, Kanam Local Government Area, to Pankshin for the exercise. But we are afraid we might not be able to register.”
Mr. Litpan Ezra, a student of the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, appealed to CBN to consider those yet to register.
Ezra said: “The authorities should extend the deadline and equally go on massive enlightenment campaign to enable those in the remote places register.”
Mr. Jacob Guwong, a farmer, said it was a friend who intimated him of the ongoing exercise, adding “I would not have known let alone be at the bank to verify my account.”
CBN introduced the exercise in 2014 to enable banks check fraudulent practices.