The Federal Government has secured an interim forfeiture order from Federal High Court which would now allow it to freeze the accounts of bank customers in Nigeria who have no Bank Verification Number, BVN.
The order obtained before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja division of the court gave the Federal Government the nod to instruct the banks to disclose any investments made with these funds and to freeze any outward movement from these accounts.
Dated October 18, 2017, the court order mandates the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to appoint an examiner to examine the books of any commercial bank that fails to comply.
Through the order, the Federal Government is seeking: Names of accounts without BVN; Account Numbers; Outstanding balances; Domicilary accounts without BVN; Branch/locations where these accounts are domiciled.
The order also empowers the government or any agent it applies to advertise the accounts without BVN in a widely circulated newspaper and gave a period of 14 days for the account holders to claim ownership and give a tangible reason why the funds should not be forfeited.
BVN is issued by the CBN after biometrics (finger print and photograph) details of a bank customer have been captured. Associated to this is the Know Your Customer, KYC, requirements which is a means of identification and proof of address required before customers can operate or open a bank account.
Read the court order below…
