The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a directive that targets the frequent PoS failures affecting customers and merchants nationwide. The bank ordered all acquirers, processors and payment service providers to set up mandatory dual connectivity to improve the reliability of electronic payments.
CBN Moves to Reduce PoS Failures
The directive builds on the circular released on September 11, 2024. That circular warned that routing transactions through only one aggregator created delays and service breakdowns.
Now, the CBN wants operators to link all PoS terminals to both NIBSS and UPSL. With this setup, transactions can switch automatically whenever one platform goes down.
According to the bank, this mandate is necessary because PoS failures have become a major concern for users across the country.
Operators Must Enable Instant Failover
In the new circular signed by Rakiya O. Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, the CBN instructed operators to configure their systems for instant failover. This ensures that customers do not experience interruptions during payments.
The CBN added that the dual-routing model will give merchants more stability and reduce the high rate of PoS failures recorded in recent months.
The bank also directed NIBSS and UPSL to run periodic tests with financial institutions. These tests will confirm that the dual connections work smoothly.
CBN Sets One-Month Deadline for Compliance
NIBSS and UPSL must send real-time notifications whenever a disruption occurs. Both aggregators must also file a full report within 24 hours, detailing the cause of the issue and the steps taken to fix it.
Furthermore, all regulated institutions have one month to implement the new guidelines.
The CBN said the policy is critical to ending persistent PoS failures, improving payment confidence and ensuring a stable electronic transaction system for users nationwide.
