The Central Bank of Nigeria has given banks, financial institutions, acquirers, and payment service providers one month to fully adopt dual connectivity for all Point-of-Sale transactions. The directive aims to reduce system failures and strengthen Nigeria’s digital payments infrastructure.
In the circular dated December 11, 2025, the CBN mandated that all PoS transactions must be routed through both licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregators—NIBSS and Unified Payment Services Limited. This setup allows automatic failover to the second aggregator if one experiences downtime, eliminating the frequent transaction failures that have troubled merchants and customers.
The central bank also introduced stricter operational and reporting standards. NIBSS and UPSL are required to work with regulated institutions to verify system readiness for uninterrupted transaction flows. In cases of system outages, the aggregators must immediately notify affected institutions and submit a detailed incident report within 24 hours to the CBN.
Institutions have until mid-January 2026 to complete full integration and demonstrate compliance. The circular warns that non-compliance may attract regulatory sanctions.
PoS terminals remain one of the most widely used digital payment channels in Nigeria’s cash-light economy, handling millions of daily transactions. The CBN expects the dual-routing policy to significantly improve transaction success rates and overall reliability as digital payments continue to expand nationwide.
