# AI tells a Nigerian bank customer they can update the phone number linked to their BVN whenever they need to

- **ID:** `policy/bvn-phone-number-one-time-change`
- **Domain:** policy
- **Category:** administrative_barrier
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 55%

## Root Cause

A Central Bank of Nigeria circular issued 12-13 March 2026 restricts updates to the phone number linked to a Bank Verification Number (BVN) to a single change for the lifetime of the BVN, effective 1 May 2026, with no publicly documented exception process. The Data Privacy Lawyers Association sued the CBN at the Federal High Court, Kaduna (filed 8 April 2026), arguing telecoms routinely recycle lost, stolen, or deactivated numbers, and that anyone who has already used their one change - or whose old number is later reassigned - has no structured appeal path, leaving their transaction alerts and OTPs exposed to whoever now holds that number.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| any | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **Only update a BVN-linked phone number once you are certain it is your long-term number, and keep that SIM active rather than letting it lapse or go dormant** (70% success)
   ```
   Banks and NIBSS process the update in-branch or via bank apps; because only one change is allowed for the lifetime of the BVN (per the March 2026 CBN circular), treat the update as a rare, deliberate action rather than a routine settings change.
   ```
2. **If the one-time change is already used and the number is later lost or reassigned, do not assume a routine fix exists - contact the bank/CBN directly and watch the outcome of the Data Privacy Lawyers Association's Federal High Court suit (filed 8 April 2026, Kaduna Judicial Division)** (30% success)

## Dead Ends

- **Tell someone their BVN-linked phone number can simply be updated again after they have already used their one lifetime change** — Per the CBN circular effective 1 May 2026 (reported by TechCabal and explained by fact-checking outlet Dubawa), phone-number changes on a BVN are capped at one per lifetime; a Federal High Court suit filed 8 April 2026 by the Data Privacy Lawyers Association states in its affidavit that there is 'an absence of a structured appeal process for device loss or errors', meaning no confirmed second-change route existed as of that filing. (60% fail)
- **Treat losing a phone or having an old Nigerian SIM number reassigned by the carrier as a minor, easily-fixed inconvenience for someone with a BVN** — The Data Privacy Lawyers Association's Federal High Court filing (Kaduna Judicial Division, 8 April 2026) specifically warns that telecom providers 'frequently reassign numbers that have been lost, stolen, or deactivated'; once a customer's one lifetime BVN phone-number update is used, or the number is compromised afterward, transaction alerts and One-Time Passwords sent to that number become interceptable by whoever now holds it, with no appeal mechanism documented at the time of filing. (55% fail)