The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all acquirers, processors, and payment terminal service providers (PTSPs), to comply with the mandatory dual connectivity with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), and Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL), for Point-of-Sale (PoS), transactions.
The apex bank, in a circular dated December 11, 2025 released on Friday and signed by the Director of the CBN’s Payments System Supervision Department, Rakiya Yusuf, gave a 30-dy deadline for the digital payment system operators to fully comply with the directive.
The latest order reinforces a previous directive issued by the CBN on September 11, 2025, which instructed payment service providers to route all PoS transactions through both NIBSS and UPSL.
The CBN circular partly reads: “All Acquirers, Processors, and Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), shall establish and maintain active connectivity with both licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregators (PTSAs), namely NIBSS and UPSL.”
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The apex bank maintained that all transaction routing systems must be integrated with both PTSAs to guarantee uninterrupted service and automatic failover in the event of downtime or service disruptions to ensure that PoS transactions can continue seamlessly if one aggregator experiences technical issues, thereby eliminating a lingering single point of failure in the nation’s digital payment ecosystem.
On Testing, Validation, and Reporting requirements, the CBN requires NIBSS and UPSL, in collaboration with regulated financial institutions, to conduct periodic tests to validate system redundancy, failover effectiveness, and overall resilience.
In addition, the circular mandates that both aggregators notify banks and the CBN in real-time of any system downtime or disruption. Reports must be submitted within 24 hours, detailing the nature, causes, and remedial actions taken.
By the latest regulatory move, the CBN expects all regulated financial institutions and payment terminal service providers to comply with the directive within one month from the date of the circular, effectively setting a mid-January 2026 deadline for implementation.
The compliance directive aligns with the CBN’s sustained efforts to modernise Nigeria’s payment ecosystem, including prior directives such as PoS device geotagging to enhance tracking, compliance, and fraud prevention.
