- Safiu Kehinde
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered the geo-tagging of all Point of Sale (PoS) terminals in the country within the next 60 days.
This, as contained in a circular dated 26th of August 2025, is part of the apex bank’s efforts to curb fraud and strengthen oversight of digital payments.
The CBN noted the move also forms part of its broader strategy to modernise Nigeria’s payment system, enhance consumer protection, and ensure that financial transactions are both secure and traceable.
It warned that terminals operating outside the registered location will be deactivated once detected.
“This initiative is designed to ensure that all POS terminals are traceable and that transactions are secure.
“Terminals operating outside their registered location will be flagged, and non-compliant devices will be deactivated,” the statement read.
According to the CBN, the geo-tagging policy will help eliminate “ghost” or cloned terminals and enable real-time monitoring of transactions.
Newly deployed PoS devices are now required to come with native geolocation features and dual-frequency GPS receivers for precise tracking.
The bank further mandated that each PoS device must capture and transmit its location at the start of every transaction, with any activity conducted beyond a 10-meter radius of the registered merchant’s address automatically flagged.
Licensed operators, including major banks and leading fintech firms such as Moniepoint, OPay, and PalmPay, are charged to register each terminal with a payment aggregator and provide accurate merchant coordinates.
CBN warned that all terminals failing to comply with the directive by the October 20, 2025 deadline will be disabled from operating.