We Won’t Obey CBN’s BVN Directive – Bank CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of a commercial bank has said that he and his colleagues will be unable to obey the directive of the Federal Government to forfeit customers funds in accounts without the Bank Verification Numbers
The Chief Executive Officer of a commercial bank has said the directive by the CBN is not feasible.

The CEO speaking anonymously said there are huge holes in the legitimacy of the order given by federal authorities.

According to the CEO, “What of a situation where somebody has died and the matter is in administration, what do you want the bank to do? To give government the money and face litigation?

“What of Nigerians who are abroad and are still struggling to get their BVNs? What if we send the monies to government and we are sued by the customer(s)?

“And the 14-day time frame is very short. Why the rush? Why not give a time frame, maybe till 2018 for people to get their BVNs?

“These are the type of things that create uncertainty and instability in the market. We are just coming out of a recession and we try to discourage anything that would destabilise the system.

“We are trying to drive financial inclusion, but there are many people who are not in the banking system that may not want to open accounts once they hear of such things happening.”

Meanwhile, Human Rights Lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, says the order granting the forfeiture of funds in accounts without BVN is illegal.

“I am very well concerned about how we deploy interim orders for permanent purposes, such as to forfeit valuable assets without any or fair hearing from the person(s) concerned,” he said.