Approximately 91 million bank accounts are at risk of being frozen as the March 1 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for linking bank accounts with either the Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identity Number (NIN) approaches.
The CBN instructed commercial banks to restrict tier-1 accounts that do not have proper BVN or NIN linkage.
The directive, issued on December 1, 2023, requires unfunded accounts to be placed on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’ immediately, with funded accounts facing the same restriction starting March 1, 2024.
Over the weekend, banks have been reminding depositors to link their BVN/NIN through digital platforms or by visiting branches to avoid potential account freezing.
All accounts must have their BVN or NIN electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024, as per the directive.
Although the CBN has not specified the consequences for customers who fail to comply with the BVN/NIN linkage, banks have warned that non-compliance could lead to transaction restrictions.
Depositors are panicking, resulting in increased visits to banks as customers rush to update their account information before the March 1 deadline.
As of January 26, the Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported that there were 60,492,104 BVN-linked accounts.
