The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has been given the exclusive authority to manage the database of the Bank Verification Number (BVN).
The company received this power at a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday after a judgement delivered by Justice James Omotosho.
According to the judge, the NIBSS has the authority to manage the BVN database across the country based on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act and other relevant banking laws.
He held that the, “NIBSS has the power to manage the BVN,” granting the “reliefs of NIBSS as prayed,” including, “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the first defendant (Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative), and any other entity, person, or institution whether directly or through agents, officers, employees, privies, or any person acting under their instruction or control from contesting the plaintiff’s statutory authority to maintain and manage the BVN database.”
Justice Omotosho also ruled that the powers of the CBN to make financial regulations are established in the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, stressing that the management of the BVN by the agency does not violate privacy rights in Nigeria.
NIBSS, in a suit filed by its counsel, Mr Wolemi Esan (SAN), asked the court to stop the Incorporated Trustees of Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, the CBN, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), and any institution in Nigeria from challenging its authority to maintain and manage the BVN database.
But, the central bank, through its attorney, Mr Kofo Abdulsalam-Alada, argued that Section 47(2) of the CBN Act empowers it to manage the BVN database.
Business Post reports that to complement the existing means of identification of customers, including the driver’s license; the International Passport, the National Identity Card, and the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee on February 14, 2014, introduced BVN as a centralized biometric identification system for the banking industry.
It was designed to give a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry, protect customers’ bank accounts from unauthorized access, address identity theft, authenticate transactions without the use of cards through biometric features, and enhance easy identification of blacklisted customers.