If Kemi Adeosun, minister of Finance, has her way, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, may soon compel Microfinance Banks, MFBs, to implement the Bank Verification Number, BVN, to facilitate the detection of bank accounts which might have been opened and operated in such banks for ghost workers by fraudulent syndicates.
In a letter to Godwin 0Emefiele, CBN governor, Adeosun said that the introduction of the BVN by the CBN has contributed immensely in improving the integrity of the payroll of the federal government by detecting and weeding out more than 50, 000 ghost workers. According to her, operating bank accounts in Microfinance Banks without requirement for BVN has left a huge loophole which individuals intent on financial crimes could use to hide and launder proceeds of crime and successfully escape detection 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,” said Adeosun.
She noted 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. 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,” stated the minister.
The CBN had in September in 2016 signified its intention to extend the requirement for the extension of the BVN to MFBs in the country. Perhaps this is the time to swing into action.