Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have disagreed over which of them should drive Biometric Bank Verification Number (BVN).
While it was conceived by CBN in conjunction with the Banker’s Committee and driven this far by the apex bank, NIMC has jumped in to claim that the CBN had been acting in error since identity manager is the only agency empowered to drive biometric identities in the country. BVN scheme gives each bank customer a unique identity across the Nigerian Banking industry that can be used for easy identification and verification at point of banking operations.
CBN had earlier in the year commenced the BVN as answer to calls by the Bankers’ Committee. The apex bank went ahead to budget $55 million, approximately N8.579 billion for the project expected to last for 18 months.
NIMC pleads its establishing Act 2007 as it’s basis of claim.
The Act empowers it to: “Create, manage, maintain and operate the National Identity Database established under section 14…including the harmonisation and integration of existing identification databases in Government agencies and integrating them into the National Identity Database,” however, CBN and the bankers committee are not ready to discontinue the BVN scheme.
According to Nigerian Communications Week report, CBN and NIMC at different fora in Lagos last week, expressed the bragging right over the biometric registration.
Mr. Chris Onyemenam, director general of NIMC said that any biometric registration, especially, after the Presidential directive on harmonization of existing database by different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), should be regarded as null and void.
At the media parley in Lagos, Onyemenam, “by implication any other biometric capturing that involves Nigerians, outside what NIMC project should be regarded as null and void. We have explained this at different fora. NIMC Act 2007 is coherent on this; it is an issue that ought not generate problem, let’s do the right thing and stop duplication of biometric data”
Elsewhere, Mr. Kofo Abdusalam-Alada, head, International and Development Law at CBN speaking at 5th Annual e-fraud in Lagos said that “BVN will not go the way of other attempts. CBN will need to put up a fight in certain direction. I’m not going to mention that direction, but BVN has to succeed. I used to get emails from my banks for the registration. BVN will help to solve many challenges such as one with 24 accounts; we will track all of them down”
Nodding in agreement, Bukola Smith, chairperson, Payment Sub-Committee, Committee of Chief Internal Auditors of Banks, said “Initially, we all know there is an agency for national identity management, which has taken up the project of having biometric registration for Nigerians. That has gone on for a long run; a lot of money has been spent. At some point in time, the banks got frustrated and I understand that at one of the bankers Committee meetings, heads of banks started asking, ‘when are we going to complete this project?
“We are talking about fraud issues, a number of things-standardization, we need to progress this project’. So, my understanding is that it was the Bankers Committee been spearheaded by managing directors of various banks that said, ‘look, we need to start this project’. Then, they put down money and said, CBN, you need to also come on board. They appointed a number of people that will work. NIBSS was appointed and another consultant, for this project. I don’t know what Kofo is trying to get at, but all the same, it is not as that CBN initiated it; CBN appears to be driving it now because they are the center coordinating body.
CBN and the NIMC had for several months on the appropriate supporting policy on the national identification number, the ‘NIN’ as a minimum know-your-customer (KYC) instrument, but the policy was withdrawn by CBN barely three weeks after it was released in 2012 and the apex bank gave no reasons.
Although the CBN later agreed to share its database from the BVN with NIMC, there are fears that this will also take some time to harmonise.
