From: Uche Usim, Abuja

Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, is seeking the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in ensuring that Bank Verification Number (BVN) becomes a mandatory requirement needed by account holders in Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to operate such accounts.

She said such step woula facilitate the detection of bank accounts opened and operated for ghost workers by fraudulent syndicates.

Adeosun, in a memo to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said the introduction of the BVN by the apex bank has contributed immensely in improving the integrity of the Federal Government payroll  on which more than 50, 000 ghost workers were detected and removed.

The finance minister further stated that operating bank accounts in Microfinance Banks without requirement for BVN has left gaps which criminally-minded individuals could latch on, launder proceeds of crime and successfully escape being detected by law enforcement agencies.

“Our ongoing efforts to verify the integrity of Federal Government  personnel costs and purge the system of fraud and error has made extensive use of the Bank Verification Number as a means of identifying recipients of multiple salaries, and salaries paid into accounts  with names that differ to those held on our payroll records. The success of this effort has to date yielded the removal of over 50,000 payroll entries,” she emphasised.

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Mrs. Adeosun referred the CBN Governor to the discovery that, prior to the deadline for obtaining the BVN, the movement of a large number of salary accounts of federal employees from commercial banks to Microfinance Banks, was observed.

“This is a suspicious activity and we have already commenced a review of such cases to identify and investigate any cases of fraud,” the Minister explained.

While noting that extending the requirement for BVN to Microfinance Banks may  put a huge financial strain  on the smaller Microfinance Banks,  the Minister pointed out that  “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 co-operation 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,”  the Minister said in the correspondence.

Recall that the CBN had in September in 2016 announced its intention to extend the requirement for the extension of the Bank Verification Number to MFBs in the country,  but the exercise has yet to take off.