The Central Bank of Nigeria plans to hit 100 million registrations by 2024 for total Bank Verification Number (BVN) in the nation. The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele , made that announcement. Today, we have 38 million issued BVNs.
This is even as the apex bank revealed that it has successfully linked 38 million accounts with the Bank Verification Numbers. CBN noted that it foresees the increase largely to its partnership with the National Identity Management Commission will also enable integration between the two databases.
“We have set a target of 100 million registrations in five years. What this means is that, we will support an aggressive enrollment of prospective banking customers in the informal sector onto the BVN system,” said Godwin Emefiele as quoted by a national Newspaper.
For CBN to move from 38 million to 100 million, it will need to add 62 million people within five years into the formal banking sector. I have already noted that Nigeria has about 32 million people that earn decent income both from the private and public sectors. They are largely the people that truly care to have bank accounts. When you add students and those without jobs but need bank accounts to receive supports from friends and families, you get the extra 6 million that make up the 38 million BVNs.
So for CBN to hit 100 million BVNs, it will have to rapidly scale this economy to bring more into the fold to even need BVNs in their lives or it will make it a requirement to collect social benefits which means most adults will get one. It will be a huge achievement in Nigeria if we get closer to 70 million BVNs by 2025!
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Why? Having a bank account is not really the big deal for many. With limited credit facilities in the nation, I am not sure anyone earning less than N30,000 will miss a bank account in Nigeria. Using one is simply funding bank fees.
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Mr Emefiele just sounded like a typical politician here, I want to believe that the taste of ‘100 million BVNs’ wasn’t sweet in his mouth when he mentioned it, but he somewhat said it anyway.
We cannot have 100 million BVNs by 2024, because we do not have such number of people who really need bank account in their lives; to believe otherwise is delusional.
No matter how hard CBN wishes to try, we don’t really have another 20 million Nigerians who think they need BVN, NIMC cannot do much there, they are equally struggling to hit the heights, despite being open to all manner of people. And in five years, we do not have any data that says another 40 million young Nigerians will come of age to own bank accounts. The biggest hope is on the school boys and girls; the older folks have already decided!
I think this BVN project is the most credible thing to ever happen in Nigeria, and that is why the figures have been struggling to hit ordinary 40 million mark. It is not political figures, else someone would have propped them up, this one doesn’t give much room for manoeuvring. It is the truest state of current realities in Nigeria, and no one should be deceived by other figures usually brandished in Nigeria, they are never credible.
“No matter how hard CBN wishes to try, we don’t really have another 20 million Nigerians who think they need BVN” That is how I see it. At most 70 million will do it.