Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) is very concerned about the thousands of banking consumers whose lives have been gravely disrupted since the BVN Registration deadline became effective on November 1, 2015.
While we recognize that the deadline has been postponed a few times to ensure total consumer compliance, it is not acceptable that majority of the consumers whose accounts are now inaccessible to them fall in the category of those who have complied with the directive more than once before.
Our office has been inundated with complaints from consumers who had registered for BVN with one of the banks and filled out submission forms to link their other accounts only to find out that the system failed to effect the linkage! Due to the failure of the BVN networking system, consumers are denied access to their legitimate funds and made to spend hours in banking halls trying to regularize their accounts.
Banking customers in the Diaspora are being told to travel thousands of kilometers from their base for BVN Registration as only one venue is provided for countries like the USA. In addition, they are being made to bear the cost of the service, which is grossly unfair! Many students are stranded presently, as they cannot access their subsistence funds from parents and guardians.
Back home, many families cannot meet their basic obligations of food, shelter, clothing or transportation because their breadwinners cannot draw money from their accounts due to BVN irregularities. Others have resorted to depending on the goodwill of friends and family to meet their basic human needs. All these are unacceptable.
It is also glaringly obvious that the banks are unable to process the overwhelming numbers of consumers with various issues on BVN registration due to inadequate facilities, understaffing and confusing processes.
Nigerian consumers must not be made to suffer more hardship in the process of complying with government policies. Consumers cannot continue to be penalized for the inefficiencies and lack of strategic planning of services providers and regulators in the financial sector.
Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) must therefore immediately put in interim concessions to alleviate consumer suffering while the process continues. To this effect, CAFON hereby calls on the CBN to consider the following actions with immediate effect:
1. Direct all banks to allow consumers some form of limited access to their accounts to ameliorate the cash crunch while the BVN regularization continues. For instance, CBN can set a daily withdrawal limit of N50, 000 per account until the BVN issues are resolved. That way, consumers can meet basic financial obligations while they await the system to function efficiently.
2. Set up more BVN registration centers for Nigerian banking consumers in Diaspora. Better still, an online registration platform that accepts their Nigerian Passports, as accurate identification, should be explored since the Nigerian Immigration Service has already captured their fingerprint and other biometric data.
3. Mandate all banks to redeploy more staff to the BVN registration process to immediately clear the backlog of account linkage and other irregularities and cut down on the time consumers waste in banking halls, frustrated.
Central Bank of Nigeria as the regulator in the financial sector of the economy needs to recognize that it has a direct responsibility to protect banking consumers from all forms of abuse and inefficient service delivery.
While we acknowledge the merits of the BVN control system, Nigerian consumers cannot be subject to subhuman conditions in the process of complying with regulatory policies that should be of benefit to them.
We therefore hope that CBN will take immediate action to address this alarming situation. That is the Change Nigerians voted for and expect to see and experience.
Signed
Sola Salako
President
CAFON
6th November 2015
Tel: 0700-CALL CAFON (2255 22366), 01-7914524
complaints@cafon.org.ng
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