The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all financial institutions, acquirers, and payment service providers to implement mandatory dual connectivity for Point of Sale (PoS) transactions within one month.
The circular, signed by Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, Rakiya Yusuf and dated December 11, 2025, revises an earlier directive introduced in September 2024 policy.
“It is designed to tackle the persistent PoS service disruption resulting from dependence on a single transaction channel.
“Under the new rule, all acquirers, processors,and payment terminal service providers must maintain active connection with both the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL).
“This dual linkage is aimed at minimising reliance on one aggregator and strengthening the resilience of the nation’s payment infrastructure.
“To guarantee. preparedness, CBN has mandated routine redundancy and failover testing. NIBSS and UPSL are to collaborate with regulated institutions to verify that their systems can deliver continuous service, with the test outcomes forming part of the bank supervisory review,” the statement read.
According to CBN, the circular also establishes more stringent reporting requirements.
“NIBSS and UPSL are expected to alert banks immediately whenever downtime occurs and submit a comprehensive incident report to the Payment System Supervision Department within 24 hours, detailing the cause, impact, and remedial measures taken,” the statement added.
