There are several identity documents that businesses operating in Nigeria can use to onboard and verify Nigerian citizens. One of those identity verification documents is the Bank Validation Number (BVN). Most businesses, fintech providers, in particular, use BVNs as part of their KYC process because of the convenience they provide.

Dojah provides a BVN validation API that you can leverage to verify the BVN of Nigerians. In this hands-on guide, you will learn all about the API, how it works, and how to integrate it into your digital products. Let’s dive in.

Exploring Dojah’s BVN Validation API

The BVN Validation API—one of the many KYC APIs that Dojah provides—allows you to verify that the first name and last name a customer provided during the onboarding and verification process matches the details on their BVN. 

It accepts a GET request that contains the BVN that needs validating and the individual’s first name, last name, and date of birth. The BVN is required, while the remaining parameters are optional. 

The API works by:

• Firstly checking if the BVN is valid
• If the first name, last name, and date of birth are also provided, it returns a confidence score that shows how closely they match the data on the BVN.
• Lastly, the API returns a true or false status for all the parameters.

How to Get Started With the BVN Validation API

Follow these steps to seamlessly integrate the BVN Validation API.

1. Fill our account opening form
2. Retrieve your public and private authentication keys from your account
3. Create an app on the dashboard then retrieve your app ID 
4. Start making calls to the API

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the Lookup BVN and Validate BVN?

Lookup BVN returns to you all the details attached to a BVN. There are two modes of results this API returns: basic and advanced. The basic results contain basic details of the BVN holder, while the advanced mode provides more details. On the other hand, the Validate BVN API only validates if a BVN is correct or not and returns a true or false response.

What are the use cases and applications of the BVN Validation API?

Some of the use cases and applications of the API include:

• Fraud prevention
• Customer onboarding
• AML compliance

Dojah: The Onboarding, Verification, and Fraud Prevention Platform You Need

Dojah is Africa’s first complete end-to-end onboarding, compliance, and fraud-check verification platform. We are powering trust in Africa’s major economies via our identity verification tools.

Easily access your users’ Financial data, Biometric data, Government data, Telco data, AML data, and more for seamless verification and onboarding. By using our suite of APIs, businesses can easily verify Nigerian identities with BVNs, NINs, and documents such as National IDs, international passports, driver’s licenses, and more. Besides APIs, we also offer no-code tools, low-codes, widgets, and SDK-based integrations. 

With Dojah, you have all of the options and none of the limitations — create an account to start verifying Nigerian identities today. Contact us if you have any questions or schedule a demo session. Also, explore our website and documentation to learn more about our product offerings.