The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has debunked a viral report that says the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued by the apex bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.
The apex bank, in a statement by Isa Abdulmumin, Ag. Director, Corporate Communication, said the news is false and should be discarded by Nigerians.
According to him, Nigerians captured on BVN should not panic while saying that they should continue using their verification numbers.
The statements said: “Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date. Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.
“However, the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt
out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.
“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime.
” Be guided accordingly,” the statement warned.
The governor of the Central Bank Godwin Emefiele in a recent engagement, Nigerians with BVN has risen to 57 million with more people coming on board as the year goes on.