Abuja, Nigeria – Na wah! As if life no dey hard already, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) don drop new bombshell wey go affect all dem Point of Sale (PoS) operators for di country. For a circular wey land on August 25, 2025, CBN talk say dem go shut down any PoS machine wey no dey operate from di registered address of di merchant. E mean say make everybody begin dey geo-tag dem machines within 60 days, or else wahala go show face.
Wetin dis mean for merchants? E mean say all di millions of PoS wey dey work for Nigeria must get di exact GPS coordinates of where dem dey used. You sabi wetin be GPS? Na di technology wey sabi your location like tomorrow morning. CBN say this new order go help them catch fraudsters wey dey use cloned or “ghost” terminals to do their ‘yahoo yahoo’ work. (If you sabi di meaning, you fit laugh small!)
Di new rule dey shake ground well-well as e require all PoS machines to get built-in GPS systems and connect to di National Central Switch. It means say if your machine no geo-tag finish, you go just dey collect dust for one corner, because nobody go fit use am again. Merchants now need to operate their transactions within just 10 metres of where dem register am. So, if your shop dey by di road and you carry your machine go inside your house to chop, you don don break di law, my friend!
Dem dey fear say dis directive go cause serious problem because around 4 million active PoS terminals dey for Nigeria. From October 20, 2025, CBN go start compliance checks, and dem no go wan hear any excuse. (No be small matter o!)
As at now, di number of PoS devices don grow enter plenty level. In 2023, dem report say Nigeria dey carry around 4.28 million active terminals. This sudden jump na one of di reasons why CBN don dey introduce fresh laws. Di past law wey dem bring come be say every terminal must dey monitored and tracked better, but dis new one na another level entirely.
CBN no wan just dey look while fraud dey happen, but dem sabi say di speed wey dem dey move fit cause kasala for di industry. To geo-tag over 4 million devices na big task wey need plenty trained hands. Any how you check am, if CBN no fit get dem to work, we fit enter wahala wey be like di naira redesign chaos wey hit us last year. E no go funny!
So, as di fulfillment date dey approach, e go sweet if we fit see how dis whole geo-tagging arrangement go work, because right now, na serious gobe dey loom.
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