CBN Orders Geo-Tagging of All PoS Machines in Nigeria

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that all Point of Sale (POS) machines in the country must be geo-tagged within 60 days to reduce fraud and improve the safety of digital payments.

In a statement released on August 26, 2025, the CBN said POS machines must now be traceable to their exact locations. Any machine used outside its registered location will be flagged, and those that do not meet the new rules by October 20, 2025, will be shut down.

The new directive requires POS devices to have built-in location features and GPS trackers to allow real time monitoring. This will help the CBN stop cloned or fake machines and ensure transactions are safe.

According to the guidelines: Each POS machine must send its location at the start of every transaction,If the machine is used more than 10 meters away from the registered shop or merchant address, it will be flagged, Banks and fintech companies like Moniepoint, OPay, and PalmPay must register every POS machine and provide the exact address of the merchants using them.

The CBN explained that this is part of a larger plan to modernize Nigeria’s payment system, protect customers, and make sure all digital transactions are secure and easy to trace.