Nigeria’s financial inclusion efforts have reached a new milestone with Bank Verification Number (BVN) registrations climbing to 66.2 million as of July 2025, according to official data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). This represents a significant increase from 63.5 million recorded in December 2024, with 2.7 million new enrollments in the first seven months of this year.
The growth follows the recent introduction of the Non-Resident Biometric Verification Number (NRBVN) scheme, designed to facilitate banking services for Nigerians living abroad. Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso described the NRBVN initiative as a strategic move to strengthen dollar liquidity through increased remittance flows. “This program serves as a bridge connecting Nigeria with its global citizens,” Cardoso stated during the NRBVN launch in Abuja.
The CBN’s policy reforms, including the expansion of licensed International Money Transfer Operators and the “willing buyer, willing seller” foreign exchange framework, have already yielded positive results. Official remittance figures rose from $3.3 billion in 2023 to $4.73 billion in 2024, with the central bank targeting $1 billion monthly inflows through enhanced diaspora banking services.
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Concurrently, Nigeria’s active bank accounts grew to 320 million by March 2025, reflecting 8.4 million new or reactivated accounts within the first quarter. Financial analysts note that multiple accounts linked to a single BVN account for the numerical disparity between BVN registrations and total accounts.
The BVN system, introduced in 2014, provides a secure identity verification framework across Nigerian financial institutions. Its expansion aligns with the CBN’s April 2024 directive mandating BVN and National Identification Number (NIN) linkage for all bank accounts, a measure aimed at strengthening the integrity of the banking system.
