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Nigeria implements biotech to halt fraud in bank, government sectors

A nationwide biometric ID system nationwide has helped secure bank customers' accounts — and clean up public service employee roles to the tune of nearly $12M per month.

March 14, 2016

Dermalog, a biometric technology provider based in Hamburg, Germany, has partnered with the Nigerian government and banking sectors to implement an automatic biometric identification system nationwide.

The system has been implemented for 23 Nigerian banks as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria, a press release from Dermalog said.

Prior to opening or accessing a bank account, customers are identified by means of fingerprints and face recognition, which are associated with an individual bank verification number.

To date, more than 24 million bank customers have registered with the system, which protects both the bank and customer accounts from fraud, the release said.

Additionally, the BVN system has helped the Nigerian government to identify and eliminate fraud in the public servant system. The country has identified 23,306 of its 312,000 public service employees who were either nonexistent or receiving a salary illegally — in some cases, being double-paid.

According to the release, cleanup of the public employee roles will save the Nigerian government approximately $140 million annually.