The Central Bank of Nigeria has set an October 31 deadline for the geotagging of all PoS terminals in the country.
According to a circular (PDF) released on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, all existing and newly deployed payment terminals must have native geolocation services enabled, with double-frequency GPS receivers for reliable geolocation service.
The move is part of the apex bank’s efforts to combat fraud in the country’s payments sector. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported that fraud in the payments sector ballooned from ₦11.61 billion in 2020 to ₦52.26 billion in 2024.
On one hand, this sharp increase reflects the significant leaps made in the digital payments industry. On the other hand, it highlights the growing vulnerabilities and challenges in securing these platforms.
The CBN has responded with initiatives such as the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, mandating PoS agents to formalise operations, and a rumoured fraud flagging feature for POS terminals.
This week’s directive is yet another attempt to combat fraud in the industry, but the move reflects a disconnect from the realities of Nigeria’s payments landscape.
Geotagging 4.2 million terminals in 60 days
There are 8.5 million registered terminals and about 4.28 million active terminals in the country. To be ready for October 20th, when the CBN will begin compliance validation exercises, at least 77,000 terminals must be geotagged daily.
That’s a task that will require thousands of trained personnel, something industry experts say the CBN and the National Central Switch lack.
It’s not yet clear if the CBN has made plans to train personnel for this task or if it plans to saddle operators with the responsibility, but either option eats into the timeline already set. But assuming the CBN somehow manages to secure trained personnel for this task, there’s still the problem of the infrastructure needed to geotag the terminals.
“There are tonnes of devices, and each one needs a slightly different type of software. Even for the same device, different PTSPs will have different software. Work out the timing; it’s madness,” one expert noted.
Geotagging a POS terminal typically requires an embedded GPS receiver. While many newer models come equipped with this functionality, older terminals often lack built-in GPS and will require alternative solutions to enable geotagging.
Although the exact distribution of terminal types is unclear, it is likely that several thousand — potentially even hundreds of thousands — of legacy terminals will need modifications or external support before they can support geotagging.
As a result, operators may need to import infrastructure. To do so, they would require access to foreign exchange and allocate a portion of their revenue. Some industry practitioners warn that this could further erode already thin profit margins and hurt the country’s financial inclusion push.
Another consideration is the requirement for terminals to run at least Android version 10, which could contribute to delays in deployment timelines.
Beyond geotagging, the circular states that all merchant transactions must take place within ten metres of that location.
While this may curb certain types of fraud and might even work for POS operators who primarily operate cash-in, cash-out services, this is impractical for larger businesses like supermarkets, especially considering GPS inaccuracies.
Even then, POS agents, many of whom do not operate from designated locations, will find their operations limited.
Regulations must fit local realities
In October 2022, the CBN announced the redesign of the ₦200, ₦500, and ₦1,000 notes, releasing the new bills in December with a January 2023 deadline. Poor rollout management and pushback from some state governors delayed the deadline, causing severe cash shortages nationwide and slowing economic activity.
With POS agents and payments now central to everyday life in Nigeria, the apex bank risks a repeat of 2022. However, if there’s any lesson to be learned from that time, it must be that sweeping reforms without proper safeguards can wreak havoc on the economy.
