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Tag: BVN

  • NIN gotten through BVN is invalid – NIMC

    NIN gotten through BVN is invalid – NIMC

    The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said a National Identification Number (NIN) gotten through bank verification exercise is not useful to the bearer.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Commission made this known on Tuesday, stressing that such NIN can only be used after it has been updated at an NIMC enrollment Center.

    “You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN. If your NIN was generated due to the BVN record harmonization with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC mobile app and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid.

    “All NIN generated by the BVN can only be used after it has been updated at the NIMC enrollment center,” NIMC stated via a public notice.

    The Commission advised bearers of such NIN to visit NIMC enrollment center to complete the NIN registration.

  • N-Power: Earlier registrations on portal null and void, says job office

    N-Power: Earlier registrations on portal null and void, says job office

    The office of the Job Creation and Empowerment Initiative of the Social Investment Programme of the Nigerian Government has said earlier registrations made on the N-Power portal are null and void.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this information is contained on the official Twitter account of the Job Creation and Empowerment Initiative of the Social Investment Programme of the Nigerian Government.

    “We understand some people have attempted registration. Please NOTE that your registration is null and void. It doesn’t count till the portal opens at 11.45pm tonight. Following instructions are a vital component of the N-Power Programme. They are there to protect you,” it tweeted.

    The office encouraged all intending applicants to follow the authentic N-Power pages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, stressing that the reason applicants were asked to print out their Bank Verification Number (BVN) information was so they can fill in the proper numbers and can also input their name as written on their BVN slip into the application form.

  • N-Power portal opens for Batch C enrolment

    N-Power portal opens for Batch C enrolment

    The Federal Government has said the enrolment for Batch C beneficiaries of the N-Power Programme under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) will begin from June 26.

    Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, made the announcement in a statement signed by the Deputy Director of Information in the Ministry, Mrs Rhoda Iliya, earlier on Friday in Abuja.

    She noted that the Programme was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 under the NSIP with the mandate of lifting citizens out of poverty through capacity building, investment, and direct support.

    “The commencement of the Batch C enrolment is sequel to far-reaching consultations and a review of the submissions on the reform and realignment of the programme for greater efficiency.

    “Batch C is also being enrolled to provide opportunities for more Nigerian youth to access the programme, in furtherance of the President’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

    “This will create opportunities that will enhance the productivity of the Nigerian youth for entrepreneurship.

    “Applications will be conducted using a hybrid system of enrolment to ensure that all Nigerians are given an opportunity to participate.

    “As a Ministry that caters for the vulnerable, we will also make special considerations for persons living with disabilities.

    “Online portal would be open to receive applications from noon on June 26, 2020 and will provide a level playing field for all applicants.

    “As part of the Ministry’s reforms to make the programme more efficient, all applicants must supply their Bank Verification Number (BVN), in their application.

    “This is to ensure a streamlined and transparent selection process. Once applications are submitted, the Ministry will review submissions and publish a list of successful applicants.

    “Past beneficiaries are not eligible to participate in the application process. Comprehensive details for the new batch will be announced in the coming weeks,” Farouq said.

    However, the Minister also hinted that the Ministry had announced that Batch A would exit the programme on June 30, while Batch B would exit on July 31, 2020 respectively.

    She explained that the Ministry had begun the transitioning of beneficiaries from Batches A and B into government entrepreneurship schemes and engaging private sector bodies to absorb some of the beneficiaries.

    According to her, these will be done after the completion of psychometric assessment to determine competency and placement into various opportunities.

    “The Federal government is committed to the continuation and expansion and as such will now begin enrolment and onboarding of a new Batch of beneficiaries.”

    The minister said, the N-Power programme had so far enrolled a total 500,000 beneficiaries, 200,000 from Batch A which started in September 2016 and 300,000 from Batch B which began in August 2018.

    “The beneficiaries were supposed to spend not less than 24 months on the programme and were spread across the key industries targeted by the programme – agriculture, health, education and tax.

    “The current beneficiaries from Batches A and B are scheduled to transit the programme by July 31, 2020 with plans already in place to transition them into entrepreneurship,” she reiterated.

  • IPPIS: ASUU rejects submission of BVN as condition for payment of withheld salaries

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it has rejected the submission of Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a condition for payment of February and March withheld salaries of lectures in the Federal Universities.

    Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President, said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

    The Federal Government on Tuesday in a statement has approved the payment of February and March withheld salaries of lecturers in universities, who were yet to enroll on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

    NAN recalls that ASUU had embarked on an indefinite strike on March 23, over failure of the government to address outstanding issues raised in the FGN-ASUU 2019 Memorandum of Action and the objections of ASUU to IPPIS.

    ASUU had rejected the application of force on its members to join the IPPIS in spite of its offer of a more credible alternative to IPPIS.

    According to Ogunyemi, we have been told that the Federal Government has approved the payment of withheld salaries of our members for the month of February and March.

    “We appreciate Mr President for doing that, however, withholding February and and March salaries was unnecessary in the first place.

    “In the second place, the issue is the condition attached to it, which does not go down well with our members, which is the supply of their BVN.

    “Our members are being paid in the past without asking for their BVN.

    “So, we have reasons to suspect that this is an indirect way to get us back to IPPIS, which our members rejected.

    “So, these are things we are going to clarify with the government whenever we are called for a meeting,” he said.

  • COVID-19 lockdown: FG agrees to use BVN in identifying poor, vulnerable Nigerians

    The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sadiya Farouq has said the Federal Government is expanding the social register for palliative distribution by employing digital models including the use of Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    The Minister disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, while responding to questions at Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19.

    She noted that this digital measure will be faster and make the distribution more effective.

    “We are using other models including BVN to identify bank accounts. We are also using mobile phone networks to identify poor and vulnerable people in society.

    “This is going to be faster, transparent and give room for more accountability,” she said.

    She added that the conditional cash transfer to poor households which is currently going on in some parts of the country is transparent and well organized.

    According to the Minister, all measures have been put in place by the Federal Government to avoid duplication of households.

    She also revealed that civil groups, traditional and religious leaders, among others are performing the role of identifying the poor in their communities thereby assisting the Federal Government in the distribution.

  • Tinubu to FG: Pay economic relief funds to Nigerians through BVN

    Tinubu to FG: Pay economic relief funds to Nigerians through BVN

    National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has urged the Federal Government to make cash payments to households through Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to cushion the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerians.

    Tinubu gave the advice in a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday.

    He said payments could be made quickly by using the BVN of prospective recipients to make direct deposits into individual bank accounts.

    The APC leader said the use of BVN would also be safer and not lead to the types of violence and crime that might follow physical cash transfers.

    Tinubu said this would even encourage those without bank accounts to establish such accounts and this process would further bring millions of people into formal banking.

    “The money-less family still needs food, water, shelter and, to a lesser degree, utilities. In a compassionate society, they should not be made to do without.

    “Most families need relief. If relief is not forthcoming, these families risk hunger and its attendant suffering and woes,” Tinubu said.

    He said the palliative measures would blunt hunger, maintain aggregate demand in the domestic economy and help sustain private-sector markets to the extent possible.

    Tinubu explained that such payments could be done in either one or in a combination of three ways.

    He said: “First, we can designate a stipend for every household. The amount should be enough to pay for the monthly needs of an “average” household for food and other basics.

    “While this may somewhat penalise larger families, perfection cannot be had at this time.

    “Second, the stipends could be given as a form of emergency unemployment insurance to those who can prove they were relieved of employment due to the crisis.

    “This will be more targeted at the actual victims of the crisis but harder to administer. This stipend will also have to be extended to owners of small and medium-sized businesses.

    “Third, the government can render some form of payroll support to companies and businesses that seek to retain workers albeit they may not be fully employed.

    “The stipend can help companies stay in operation while maintaining workers on their payroll. By maintaining workers, the company can more swiftly return to full operation when normalcy returns.”

    Tinubu said payment of these stipends would require hiring additional government workers to augment the existing bureaucracies to implement that programme.

    According to him, this administrative requirement will help boost employment and aggregate consumer demand.

    He said that activating Trader-moni and other programmes would help many small-scale traders but not the average wage earner who just lost his job.

  • Lockdown Extension: Using BVN for social intervention programme – Carl Umegboro

    Lockdown Extension: Using BVN for social intervention programme – Carl Umegboro

    By Carl Umegboro

    The extension of the lockdown for another 2 weeks by President Muhammadu Buhari is not a bad idea on account that other counties affected by the dreadful coronavirus contagion; codenamed Covid-19 are still under lockdown. Even countries that are more advanced in science and technology than Nigeria are all adopting the same preventive measures as specified by the World Health Organization (WHO). The second phase which begins on 14 April will elapse on 28 April, 2020.

    However, the bad idea is to announce the lockdown extension and appealed to citizens to endure further or expect relief materials which will never get to them. Nobody will claim ignorance of the magnitude of corruption in the country which is still thriving albeit unpronounced as it used to be during the previous administrations. At this critical time, the country cannot make a mistake of parting fishes carelessly in an environment with rats only to prepare for their deaths after tampering with the fishes.
    Commendably, President Buhari noted in his speech that there will be those who live day-to-day, eating as they earn, and who face real and present suffering. Obviously, people in the two weeks lockdown are drying up from hunger. And crime rate has risen across the nation beyond ordinary. Possibly, responsible citizens are being pushed into crimes for survival as a result of the quagmires.

    “No elected government could ask more of the citizens of the country that elected them than what we ask of you today. But we must ask you – once more – to observe restrictions on movement where they are in place, and follow the instructions of our scientists and medical advisers: stay home, wash your hands, save lives’, President Buhari stated.
    However, President Buhari added that for those who suffer most egregiously, the Government has announced multiple measures to assist: 70,000 tonnes of grain is being released from the National Strategic Grain Reserves for distribution to those in most need; distribution of small cash payments are also being made, and will continue to be made by the federal government in the states and local government areas.

    This is where there is a flaw. No doubt, Buhari by his antecedents may share the money to the targets without hijacking or diverting some huge amounts to his pockets if given the opportunity to do so. Similarly, few other government officials particularly the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo may follow suit. Unfortunately, as humans, they cannot cover even one Local Government Area within a short period putting into account the urgency the matter requires. The golden truth is that people are facing critical times without having anything for feeding, and therefore, this is not time for unnecessary long protocols and processes.

    Interestingly, the Banks Verification Numbers (BVN) can actively be used to provide relief funds to low income earners at this critical moment. No doubt, a lot of people in the village do not have BVN, however, using it to credit relief funds to those that have will motivate those yet to go for it to make effort toward acquiring BVN for future issues. Of course, that may not stop government from still sending relief materials to villages and specific places to complement the funds for those that didn’t have BVN.

    The idea of sharing cash and relief materials is not only primitive but will take the corruption to another level. This is not a good time to hear that someone embezzled funds earmarked for the public. Let the truth be told; the funds will be tampered with irrespective of whoever is responsible to share the money. Besides, it makes the country look so uncivilized for the government to be sharing cash to the vulnerable citizens which certainly cannot be accounted for.

    Let policy makers and leaders begin to emulate the advanced countries on their policies. We can borrow ‘Operation-Everyone is a suspect’ from Neil Strauss, an American author who titled one of his books, ‘Everyone is a suspect’. Let’s operate robust systems that prevents or eliminates corruption instead of assuming that members of one political party are corrupt while those in another party are saints. From what we have witnessed in the country, corruption cuts across all tribes, religions, political parties, genders and professions.

    By using bank accounts and strictly accounts with BVN to credit relief funds to low income earners with a proviso that such credit can only go into bank accounts with less than (N50,000) fifty thousand Naira, arguably, the fund will appropriately be directed to the suffering masses and accounted for, and not disappear into the pockets of those that are comfortable. Essentially, that will also pave way for transparency and accountability of the funds. Let the masses be rescued from the pains and trauma they are going through on account of the outbreak of the covid-19 epidemic. Nigerian masses have suffered enough and should not be allowed to suffer more.

    Equally, religious organizations; churches and mosques should show concerns and love directly to the poor among them. That’s the summary of the sermons of the two religions. The poor members should not be left to die of hunger as charity which includes feeding the poor is provided for in both the Bible and Qur’an. Let the situation not compel some responsible citizens to indulge in crimes. Thus, it calls for a collective responsibility. Let brotherly love manifest by actions in this trying period.
    Umegboro is a public affairs analyst and Associate, Chartered institute of Arbitrators (United Kingdom). 08023184542-SMS only.

  • FG not giving Nigerians with BVN N30,000 -Adesina

    FG not giving Nigerians with BVN N30,000 -Adesina

    Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina has discredited report that Nigerians with bank verification number (BVN) will be given N30,000 as relief fund.

     

    The report, which went viral on Friday, said Adesina issued a statement to that effect.

     

    The said amount was to help Nigerians “stock up their home during the stay-at-home order by the government”.

     

    As a way of reducing the spread of COVID-19, both federal and state governments placed restrictions on public gathering.

     

    In a tweet on Saturday, Adesina urged Nigerians to ignore the information.

     

    “Fake news peddlers have concocted a statement, purportedly issued by me, saying FG will pay N30,000 to each Nigerian with BVN, to help them stock up before an impending national lockdown. Not me. The so-called statement is hereby disclaimed,” he tweeted.

     

     

     

    However, some Nigerians on Twitter in reaction to Adesina’s tweet asked if the government has any plan to help its citizens at this time.

     

    Below are some reactions

     

  • Minister urges NCC board to link SIM cards, national ID cards, BVN

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has called on the newly inaugurated Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to link up simcard registration to national Identification Card (ID Card) and Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    Pantami, who made the call at the inauguration, which held at the ministry’s headquarters on Thursday, in Abuja, said that it was an important step to take as it was part of the policy of the present administration.

    “Try to see how our sim registration will be linked up to our national identification card.

    “It is also very important so that our BVN will all be linked up with our digital ID,” he said.

    According to him, the policy is with regard to our achievement on handling 9.4 million sim cards, some are partially registered, some not completely registered.

    “After that, President Muhammadu Buhari directed me to share that information with security agencies and also ask for their opinion on how to consolidate that achievement.

    “As part of what they have sent to us, some responded that there are issues that we must address.

    “One of them is total number of registered sim cards that each Nigerian should be allowed to have without difficulty.”

    He further suggested that every individual should possibly have three sim cards as regards the policy sent to the NCC as part of regulation to the board.

    The minister adviced that when individuals would need additional sim cards from the agreed number, they should provide justification in order to acquire more than the agreed number.

    “In the document policy we have sent, we say possibly three, as part of regulation the board; we said possibly, possibly is not final.

    “So it is flexible. This is based on what the Minister of Defence has sent to us,” he said.

    Pantami urged the board members to work hard and not to take their work lightly.

    In his remarks, The Board Chairman, Prof. Adeolu Akande, expressed happiness and gratitude for the opportunity and support to be of service to the commission.

    Akande, who spoke on behalf of the newly-inaugurated board, promised on behalf of the board and management of NCC to meet up and exceed the minister’s expectations.

    He thanked the minister for standing by them during their screening in the National Assembly.

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) NCC, Prof Umaru Danbatta thanked the minister for giving a full compliment to NCC’s governing board.

    Danbatta wished the newly inaugurated board success in the discharge of their duties.

  • Bank Verification: Bauchi uncovers 596 ghost workers on payroll

    Bank Verification: Bauchi uncovers 596 ghost workers on payroll

    The Committee set up by Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State to verify workers without Bank Verification Number (BVN) said it uncovered 596 dead officers on the government payroll.

    The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Adamu Gumba, disclosed this at a news conference in Bauchi on Monday.

    “In the process of this exercise, we discovered that 596 deceased officers are on the government payroll.

    “However, we have recommended to the state governor that their names should be removed from pension and the state payroll,’’ he said.

    Gumba also said that the committee discovered that 30,276 workers were without BVN contrary to the initial figure of 41,448 suspected by the state government before the committee was set up.

    “Out of the 30,276 people suspected to be without BVN, 24,736 people have been verified and cleared by the committee and their salaries and pensions will be paid.

    “However, despite the extension of time given to the officers to come for the exercise, 4,578 consisting of both staff and pensioners still refused to show up.

    “Those that decided not to appear, we may not know, but clearly, they are suspects of ghost workers,” he said.

    Gumba said the exercise was done in two segments and people who were verified and cleared in each segment were recommended for payment of their October, November and December salaries and pensions.

    He revealed that the committee also presented the third segment to the state governor who had approved the payment of the salaries and pensions to the people cleared.