‘It Is Illegal Denying Customers Access To Accounts Over BVN’
An Enugu-based human rights lawyer,
Mr Olu Omotayo has said that it was
illegal for any commercial bank to deny
a customer access to his Account for not
obtaining the Bank Verification
Numbers (BVN). He told The Guardian in
Enugu that there is a binding agreement
between the financial institutions and
customers on transaction.
He emphasised that anything contrary to
that is a case for the court to determine.
Omotayo said that any customer denied
access to his account on the basis of
not having BVN was free to challenge
such action in Court. He said: “I
registered at the initial stage when the
thing started. I went to my bank to do
other things and saw people registering
and decided to do mine. That was in
December last year. There was no crowd
then. I also got my BVN number after the
exercise.
The CBN or operators have not come out
with the benefits or what Nigerians or
bank customers stand to gain from the
policy. When you introduced a new
policy, there must be regulations guiding
it. They have not been able to come up
clearly what it is all about. If you go to
online or internet banking, there are
CBN guidelines on it. So there should be
a regulation as you cannot wake up to
say people must have verification
numbers.
It will be illegal for banks to deny people
access to their accounts because of the
BVN. BVN should be a continuous
process. There should be no deadline for
the exercise. It is not possible because
banks can’t keep people’s money and
refuse them access to it because they
have not gotten the BVN. What banks
supposed to do is to allow the process to
continue unhindered and appeal to those
who have not register to come and do
so.’
Banks don’t have power to deny
somebody access to his money without
court order. I have not seen such. It has
never happened because there are laws
guiding customers and bankers’
relationship. No policy can over ride
such law, unless you want to create
chaos in the system”, he added.
In the same vein, a seasoned politician,
Chief Pius Anajuba has called on the CBN
to extend the deadline in the interest of
Nigerians, especially those living in the
rural areas that could not assess the
urban areas easily.
He said: “I think the registration is
something we should all embrace.
My experience was hectic and rough, but
finally I registered. It took
me about four days to register.
I believe the thing should be extended to
enable those in the rural areas to find
their way to the cities and register.’
On the benefits of the policy, he said:
“The Central Bank is under the control of
federal government. If it is the wish of
the government, then it means there is
something beneficial about it. No matter
how you look at it I think
the exercise should be a continuous one.
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