Newly released data by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has revealed that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments in Nigeria hit 67.8 million by December 2025.
This shows an increase of 4.3 million registrations from 63.5 million in 2024, that is 6.8 per cent year-on-year increase between 2024 and 2025.
The data shows that there has been a steady increase in enrolments over the past five years: 2021: 51.9 million; 2022: 56.0 million; 2023: 60.1 million; 2024: 63.5 million; and Dec 2025: 67.8 million.
The rise in BVN enrolments through 2025 is closely linked to policy interventions and enforcement directives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and industry practice such as the CBN’s instruction to freeze bank accounts without BVN and National Identification Number (NIN), and the introduction and expansion of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative which has enabled Nigerians in the diaspora to register for BVN remotely.
Data further showed that despite the growth, the BVN total still lags behind the total number of active bank accounts in Nigeria, which stood at over 320 million as of March 2025, indicating multiple accounts per BVN and some unregistered customers.
