Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has said extending the Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Microfinance Banks (MFBs) won’t be a bad idea.
In view of this, the Minister has appealed to the apex bank to make this a reality as it would facilitate the detection of bank accounts which might have been opened and operated in such banks by ghost workers and other syndicates.
Few years ago, the CBN made it mandatory for commercial banks to give BVNs to their customers. It warned that no customer should be allowed to operate his account without going through the verification exercise.
This was brought up to curb corruption and fraudulent activities in the country.
Since its introduction, the initiative has achieved a relatively huge success.
Speaking in a statement issued by her Ministry’s Director of Information, Mr Salisu Dambatta, the Minister said the introduction of BVN by the CBN had contributed immensely in improving the integrity of the Federal Government payroll on which more than 50,000 ghost workers were detected and removed.
In the statement issued in Abuja on Monday, Mrs Adeosun noted that she had written to the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on the subject matter.
According to her, operating bank accounts in Microfinance Banks without requirement for BVN had left a huge loophole which individuals with intent on financial crimes could use to hide and launder proceeds of crime and successfully escape detection by law enforcement agencies.
She referred the CBN governor to the discovery that prior to the deadline for obtaining the BVN, there had been movement of a large number of salary accounts of federal employees from commercial banks to microfinance banks.
“This is a suspicious activity and we have already commenced a review of such cases to identify and investigate any cases of fraud.
“We know that extending the requirement for BVN to Microfinance Banks may put a huge financial strain on the smaller Microfinance Banks; however, some MFBs such as National Police Force Microfinance (NPF), have over 27,000 salary accounts.
“Our inability to perform checks on such a large number of salary earners is a key risk.
“I am therefore seeking your cooperation to enforce compliance with BVN on any MFB with over 200 active salary accounts or those above a certain size.
“This will support the Federal Government’s efforts at reducing leakages to create headroom for the capital projects that will support the growth of the economy,” Mrs Adeosun was quoted as saying in the statement.
