NIBSS was allowed by the court to control the BVN of Nigeria and supports its authority to run the operations of database maintenance in the country.

The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) was granted the responsibility to operate the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system by a federal high court in Abuja, proposing a major breakthrough in database management regulations.

Justice James Omotosho was of the view that the processing of the BVN database by NIBSS is in tandem with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act and the other related laws governing the financial sectors. The case was based on the recurring legal actions by the Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative citing that the database management accorded by NIBSS contravened the right to privacy of the citizens.

NIBSS posited that its involvement in the management of databases is vital to the establishment of electronic payment infrastructure in the country. With the endorsement of CBN, legal filings presented to court indicated that the BVN handled by NIBSS is constitutionally supported and is required to keep the nation financially strong.

The court had given a permanent injunction preventing challenging in the future the role of NIBSS to manage the database. Justice Omotosho added that this is a judgment in rem and it applies to all unless it is overruled in appeal.

The decision strengthens the stake of NIBSS in the financial ecosystem and supports the fact that the operation of the database to manage Nigeria's digital identification infrastructure has legal grounds.