FG backtracks, apologizes; says "only 'reportable persons' to fill self-certification forms"

Nigeria's Federal Government has apologized for a misleading information which it shared earlier yesterday demanding that all bank account holders in the country must fill and submit "self-certification" forms to their respective financial institutions (including banks, insurance companies, etc).

The demand had met a strong backlash today from Nigerians on social media who criticised the move coming after they had been forced to obtain their BVN and NIN by a similar order from the government. 

Both the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) are already sufficient to identify all account holders in Nigeria, hence the worry by concerned citizens about the new order.

However, in a statement today via its official Twitter handle @NigeriaGov, the government said: "We apologize for the misleading tweets (now deleted) that went up yesterday, regarding the completion of self-certification forms by Reportable Persons. The message contained in the @firsNigeria Notice does not apply to everybody. FIRS will issue appropriate clarification shortly."

Further clarification indeed came from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) official Twitter handle @firsNigeria stating as follows:

"This is to clarify the publication for financial institutions account holders in Nigeria to complete the self certification form, pursuant to the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2019 which is for the fulfilment of Automatic Exchange of Information Requirements."

"The Self Certification form is basically to be administered on Reportable persons holding accounts in Financial institutions that are regarded as "Reportable Financial Institutions” under the CRS. Reportable persons are often non-residents resident for tax purpose in more than one jurisdiction."

"The information that indicates an account holder is a resident for tax purposes in more than one jurisdiction is expected to be available to Financial Institutions during account opening processes for the KYC and AML purpose."