Customers And Bank Workers Exchange Blows Over BVN Registration

In the huge rush to beat the Bank
Verification Number enrollment deadline
which is June 30th, 2015 however, customers
of an old generation bank engaged in a
brawl with members of staff of the bank in
the banking hall in Enugu State.
Customers were gripped by fear over the
reports that their bank accounts will be
frozen if they don’t enroll before the
deadline.
The insistence on the BVN by bank
cashiers before attending to customers
also increased such fear.
The development led to an unusually
large turnout of customers at banking
halls in the Coal City and this has been
happening since the beginning of the
week.
However, the matter took a different
turn at an old generation bank, located
in the Independence Layout area of
Enugu on Thursday.
Trouble started when security personnel
and operations staff of the financial
institution asked some customers to go
outside the banking hall to wait their
turn.
About 100 customers, who had been at
the bank since 6am, had trooped into the
banking hall when the doors were
opened by 8am.
In a bid to maintain order, the bank
officials asked the first 10 among the
customers to fill the BVN forms and join
about 30 others who did not complete the
registration the previous day.
The other customers were told to leave
the banking hall, and wait outside.
But the directive did not go down well
with the customers, who protested,
causing commotion in the banking hall.
The situation degenerated into a full
blown fight when some customers
violently resisted an attempt by the bank
officials to lead them out of the banking
hall.
In the ensuing fracas, a young man
engaged an armed riot policeman, who
was attached to the bank, in a fight,
while another customer exchanged blows
with a bank worker.
The situation further escalated as some
customers, who wanted to capitalise on
the confusion to move to the front of the
queue, were physically resisted by those
who were already there.
Normalcy eventually returned after
other bank security personnel, who were
outside, stormed the banking hall to
overpower the violent customers.
The branch manager of the bank later
announced that the bank would open on
Saturday to continue the enrollment.
The branch manager, who did not
disclose her name, complained that the
customers had waited until the last
minute before coming to enroll for the
BVN.