Low Registration Forces CBN To Postpone BVN For Diaspora Depositors To June 2016

The Central Bank has issued a circular postponing BVN registration for Diaspora depositors to June 30th 2016. The Bank had earlier set a deadline of January 31, 2015 but was forced to postpone due to low registration.

The CBN said the reason for the low turnout is mainly due to the lack of accessibility to registration centers and unavailability of centers in cities where Nigerian population is high. The CBN currently has about 30 centers worldwide which is not enough for a country that has citizens spread across the globe. The United States has about 50 states alone with Nigerians living in virtually all of them.

With every extension the CBN carries the risk of not tracking funds flow within the country as it relates to Nigerians living abroad. It is also likely that several Nigerians who posses dual residency could deliberately avoid to register for unscrupulous reasons.