₦airaland Forum

If there is no further extension by the CBN for Nigerians in diaspora, a large number of people are about to be cut off from the Nigerian banking system. The CBN has engaged a vendor to undertake the BVN registration for Nigerians abroad and also allowed some banks with branches abroad to also undertake the BVN registration.
However, these efforts have largely been focused on people in a particular region and there are still a lot more people to be reached.

What is the way forward?
Sometimes, we like to make something that is simple very complicated in Nigeria.
A solution will be for the CBN to work together with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Nigeria started issuing the E-passport around 2009.
The E-passport has helped to reduce the incidence of people using multiple identities to travel across the Nigerian border and a databse of all passports issued and travel history is maintained by the NIS.
Once someone applies for the E-passport, it is very difficult to change any details on it except there is a very cogent reason verifiable by the Nigerian Immigration Service.

I propose that Nigerians in diaspora who have bank accounts in Nigeria be allowed to send their international passport datapage to their banks who will send same to the CBN for verification. After verification by the CBN from the NIS that the bank customer is not in Nigeria and has not been in Nigeria since September/October 2015 when the deadline expired.

A temporary BVN can then be issued which could be valid for five years or even ten years with a proviso that Nigerians in Diaspora register for the main BVN anytime they are in Nigeria before the expiration of the temporary BVN.

I hope this makes sense to the relevant authorities.

The United States of America funded and led the fight against tyranny and the German Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm 2nd in World War 1. She led the fight against fascism, the Axis Powers and Adolf Hitler’s Germany in World War 2.
She led the fight against communism, Josef Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union in the cold war.
She led the fight against Saddam Hussein in the two Gulf Wars and the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the war against terror. On all these occasions and many others the Americans literally saved the world. That is the United States of America that we know and love.

In those days, in the conduct of their foreign policy, they led by example, they displayed solid religious values, they feared God and they stood firmly against all manner of evil. Sadly things appear to have changed in the last few years.

Today’s America seeks to impose her culturally deviant and strange values on the rest of the world by hook or by crook. Today’s America boastfully and openly erects statues of and builds monuments to Satan (the Lord of Destruction) in her cities, all in name of religious freedom.

Today’s America openly celebrates the cult of humanism and the rejection of God in all its dealings and affairs. Today’s America says things like "we will compel Nigeria to accept homosexuality and gay marriage".

Today’s America, through its Supreme Court, has redefined the institution of marriage, has rejected its traditional definition and has affirmed the right of every American to enter into same-sex marriages- a course of action which is in direct contradiction with the Holy Bible and which is nothing less than an affront to the Living God.

Today’s America has done more than any other country in the world to destabilise and topple Arab and North African secularist governments and to help spread the dreaded Wahhabi/salifist philosophy, jihadist terror and Islamic fundamentalism.

Today’s America has isolated the State of Israel and has pampered and appeased the traditional enemies of the Jewish state more than any other.

Today’s America has provoked and alienated Russia, caused a civil war in the Ukraine, divided eastern Europe, increased tensions and nuclear proliferation amongst the world powers and made the world a far more dangerous and unstable place.

Today’s America has a police force that slaughters blacks for sport and has a military that indulges in the systematic torture and rape of prisoners of war. Today’s America gives sodomy a pride of place in the affairs of men. I could go on and on.

So much has gone wrong in "the land of the free and the home of the brave". So much has gone awry in "Gods own country" and all of it has happened under the watch and during the tenure of office of a suave, good-looking, elegant, eloquent, brilliant and seemingly gentle, humble and pious African American President who first rode into power in 2008 on the slogan "yes we can".

Little did we know at that time that "yes we can" actually meant "anything goes". Yet despite all these challenges and conflicting signals one thing remains clear: many of us, including this writer, still love America and we always will.

Our admonitions and observations are made out of love and concern and not out of anger or hatred. Let us pray that the USA gets back up there again where she belongs.

Let us pray that she turns back to God and that her glory is restored. Let us hope that in 2016 the American people elect a President that "knows God", fears Him and stands in awe of Him.

Meanwhile I have a few more questions for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy.

The United States of America, both directly and through their regional allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait and various other Arab Gulf states, supplied millions of dollars’ worth of arms to the vicious Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organisation known as the Al Nusra Front three years ago in Syria in an attempt to get rid of President Bashir Al Assad. Did they forget about the Leahy Act then?

Did they not recognise the fact that when Al Nusra was going from town to town wiping out whole civilian populations, including women and children, and openly cutting out and eating the hearts of their victims that it was a gross violation of human rights? Worse still they filmed their barbarous behavior and proudly aired it on the internet.

The Al Nusra Front was to later transmute into the beast called ISIS and the rest is history. Who created, funded and fed that beast at the initial stage? Who encouraged them at the outset? Was it not America?

Come to think of it who funded and created Al Qaeda itself and who supported and armed Osama Bin Ladin to resist and fight the Soviets in Afghanistan right from the start? Was it not America?

Again who supported and funded Saddam Hussein in the early years and who sold him millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to fight a war against Iran in an attempt to topple Ayatollah Khomeni after the Iranian revolution? Was it not America?

Where was U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy on all these occasions? Did he lose his voice? Was he on vacation in Hawaii? Did he complain about the atrocities and human rights violations committed by the Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein at the appropriate times?

In particular why was he so silent about the atrocities of Al Nusra three years ago and why did he not call them ''rapists and murderers'' in the same way that he called our soldiers same?

Why was his celebrated Leahy Act not invoked to stop the Obama administration from supplying arms to the Al Nusra Front in the same way that it was invoked to stop them from supplying arms to our Armed Forces?

Senator Leahy should explain that one away to the world instead of insulting the sensibilities of our people. Who is kidding who?

Cc: lalasticlala

This is a mail that was sent out this morning by GTBank.
The ATM Withdrawal limit has been reduced from N300,000 to a paltry N60,000. Below are screenshots of the emails received and the old limit from their website.