The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks and licensed operators in the country’s payments ecosystem to geo-tag their Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals within the next 60 days as part of sweeping reforms to strengthen oversight and transparency in electronic payments.
In a circular released on August 25, 2025, the apex bank said all existing and newly deployed PoS and other payment terminals must have in-built geo-location services and be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) with accurate coordinates of the merchant or agent’s place of business.
To ensure compliance, the CBN outlined new standards requiring terminals to:
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Use double-frequency GPS receivers for reliable location accuracy.
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Integrate the National Central Switch Software Development Kit (SDK) for geolocation monitoring and geofencing.
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Operate on at least Android version 10.
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Capture and transmit geo-location data at the initiation of every transaction.
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Restrict transactions to a maximum 10-meter radius of the registered business location.
The circular, signed by Dr. Rakiya O. Yusuf, Director of the CBN’s Payments System Supervision Department, further warned that terminals not routed through a PTSA will no longer be permitted to transact.
“All existing terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of this circular. New terminals going forward must be geo-tagged before certification and activation,” the directive stated.
The CBN also announced that compliance validation exercises will begin on October 20, 2025, ahead of broader enforcement of its payment messaging reforms, which include migration to the global ISO 20022 standard by the end of October.
Analysts say the new policy could help curb fraud, eliminate ghost PoS operators, and enhance transaction traceability in Nigeria’s fast-growing electronic payments sector.
