Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has issued a direct warning to Point of Sale operators across Nigeria, declaring that any operator caught aiding fraudsters or money launderers will be treated as a criminal accomplice rather than a passive intermediary. The warning was delivered by the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, through his Chief of Staff, Commander of the EFCC, Michael Nzekwe, when a delegation of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria led by its National President, Oti Obioha, paid a courtesy visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The timing and tone of the warning reflect the growing alarm within Nigeria’s anti-graft agency that the country’s vast POS network, which has been celebrated as a driver of financial inclusion, is increasingly being repurposed as a laundering channel for criminal proceeds, including kidnapping ransoms and terrorist financing.
Olukoyede did not mince words about the scale of the problem. “We have realized that the issues of money laundering, terrorist financing, and even ransom payments are made mostly from POS machines,” he said, speaking through Nzekwe. The commission’s concern is not merely that fraudsters use POS terminals to move money, but that some operators are active participants in the crimes. “There are even some POS operators who are actually fraudsters; they aid, conspire, give out information and abet fraudsters,” Olukoyede said. He questioned whether AMMBAN was exercising adequate oversight over its members, asking pointedly: “What is the impact of your association on the members? Do you train your members? Do you have records of the address of your members?” The EFCC chairman urged the association to develop a comprehensive framework that would include a database of all operators, maintained with proper records that could assist investigators in tracing transactions.
The commission’s frustration is rooted in a practical investigative problem. When money is laundered through a POS outlet, investigators often hit a wall because operators keep no records of who sent the money or who withdrew it. “Most times, in the course of investigation, when you find out that money was laundered through a POS operator, by the time you bring them in, they won’t even know the person who sent the money and who withdrew it, no records of the transactions, and no one is asking questions,” Olukoyede said. He demanded that AMMBAN ensure its members maintain proper financial records for every transaction and keep accurate records of operators nationwide. The commission expressed readiness to collaborate with the association on training, awareness creation, and information sharing. AMMBAN President Oti Obioha acknowledged the need for closer collaboration, saying POS operators work at the grassroots and could play an important role in preventing financial crimes. “We want to collaborate in the areas of training, because most of our agents don’t know the rules of our operations,” he said.
The warning did not emerge in a vacuum. In June 2026, the EFCC and the Corporate Affairs Commission launched a joint crackdown on unregistered POS operators, warning that their activities posed serious risks to national security and the financial system. The CAC Board Chairman, Senator Hussaini Ibrahim Idah, disclosed during a visit to the EFCC headquarters that only about 20 per cent of POS operators in Nigeria were registered with the CAC, a situation he described as a violation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 and the Central Bank of Nigeria Agent Banking Regulations 2026. The CAC had set a January 1, 2026 deadline for all operators to register, warning that unregistered terminals would be seized and operators shut down. Despite multiple extensions since 2024, compliance remained stubbornly low. Idah said evidence increasingly suggested that criminal proceeds, including ransom payments linked to kidnapping cases, were being routed through POS terminals. “Neither of the two agencies can fight and win the war against economic and financial offences if we work alone,” he said. Olukoyede responded by describing unregulated POS operations as a major challenge to Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, warning: “If you do not regulate the activities of such key players, you will be having major problems and challenges within your financial ecosystem.” He revealed that the EFCC was investigating about 200 companies referred by the CAC and had made significant progress.
The concern has also reached the highest levels of government. In July 2026, the House of Representatives moved to crush what it described as Nigeria’s ₦2.23 trillion ransom cash economy, mandating the CBN and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit to conduct a comprehensive audit of suspicious POS transactions in high-risk areas. The lawmakers cited reports from the NFIU and the National Bureau of Statistics indicating that criminal networks were actively exploiting POS operators and other retail financial channels to handle ransom payouts and erase their financial trails. The National Counter Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser had also found that POS operators and other financial channels were used to facilitate ransom payments. The convergence of intelligence from the EFCC, NFIU, NCTC, and the legislature suggests that the exploitation of POS networks is not an isolated problem but a systemic vulnerability in Nigeria’s financial architecture.
The enforcement record provides further evidence. In June 2026, the EFCC arraigned Osaretin Osagiede before a Federal High Court in Lagos over an alleged ₦700 million money laundering scheme in which fraudulent withdrawals were traced to over 150 beneficiaries across 13 banks, most of whom were POS operators used to withdraw the money in cash. In March 2026, a Lagos court sentenced Oluokun Gabriel Adekola to three years’ imprisonment for laundering ₦12 million linked to a wider ₦3.09 billion fraud at First City Monument Bank, in which fraudsters exploited mobile banking vulnerabilities and funnelled funds through POS agents. The EFCC has also secured the conviction of POS operators under the Cybercrime Act, including a First Bank POS agent prosecuted for cybercrime. These cases demonstrate that the warning issued on Thursday is not a rhetorical threat but a signal of an enforcement strategy that is already producing arrests and convictions.
For Nigeria’s fintech sector, the EFCC’s warning carries significant implications. The POS industry has grown rapidly in recent years, providing essential financial services to millions of Nigerians in areas without bank branches. But that growth has outpaced regulation, creating opportunities for criminal exploitation. The 20 per cent registration rate means that 80 per cent of operators are effectively invisible to regulators, operating without a formal legal identity and therefore without meaningful accountability. The EFCC’s insistence that AMMBAN develop a comprehensive database of its members is an attempt to close that gap. Whether the association can deliver on that demand will determine whether the POS sector remains a financial inclusion success story or becomes a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s money laundering problem. For now, the EFCC has made its position clear. Operators who aid fraudsters will not be treated as bystanders. They will be treated as suspects.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments