Duplo secures dual licences to bridge e-invoicing, unified payments for businesses in Nigeria

Duplo, a financial operating system for African businesses, has secured both the Systems Integrator (SI) and Access Point Provider (APP) licences from the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), positioning the company as an accredited service provider for firms preparing for Nigeria’s mandatory e-invoicing rollout.

The approval comes ahead of the July 1, 2026, deadline when medium taxpayers in Nigeria will be required to comply with the country’s new electronic invoicing framework under the Electronic Fiscal System (EFS).

With the dual accreditation, Duplo will provide businesses with an integrated platform that enables them to generate tax-compliant electronic invoices, transmit them to the NRS for validation, and settle the associated payments within the same system.

The move comes as Nigeria intensifies efforts to close tax leakages and digitise its revenue collection process. The NRS estimates that more than N500 billion is lost annually to tax leakages, much of which is linked to manual invoicing, under-reporting, and poor documentation of transactions.

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The EFS initiative is designed to address these gaps by digitising invoice generation and reporting at the point of transaction, enabling tax authorities to track business activity in near real time.

Duplo’s newly acquired licences allow it to operate across two critical layers of the e-invoicing ecosystem. As a Systems Integrator, the company can connect enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems used by businesses to the national e-invoicing infrastructure. It can send invoices in the necessary XML and Universal Business Language (UBL) formats straight to the tax authority as an Access Point Provider.

Through the integration, companies using major enterprise platforms such as SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Dynamics can automatically generate compliant invoices and route them to the tax authority without manual intervention.

The platform also allows businesses to reconcile payments instantly once an invoice has been validated by the NRS, eliminating what industry experts describe as the “reconciliation lag” that often leads to financial discrepancies in corporate accounts.

Nigeria’s shift to a real-time “pre-clearance” tax model is expected to significantly tighten enforcement for companies with annual turnover exceeding N1 billion. Under the framework, invoices must be validated by the tax authority before transactions are considered fully compliant.

Failure to comply carries penalties, including administrative fines of N200,000 and tax surcharges of up to 100 percent on unreported transactions.

By embedding tax compliance directly into payment workflows, Duplo aims to help businesses avoid such penalties while improving transparency and financial oversight.

Companies such as Maersk, Krones, DP World, Baobab, Miva Open University, Eat N’Go, IMG, and SMT are already using the platform to automate payment workflows and gain greater visibility over their financial operations.

Yele Oyekola, chief executive officer and co-founder of Duplo, said the company’s dual licence would help businesses connect their existing financial systems to the country’s emerging digital tax infrastructure.

“Africa’s next growth phase requires robust financial systems, not temporary patches,” Oyekola said.

“By securing both the systems integrator and access point provider licenses in Nigeria, we are providing the single operational layer that connects payments, invoicing, and tax logic. This isn’t just about compliance; it’s about closing the loop.”

He added that the company’s setup lets businesses connect their ERP systems straight to the national e-invoicing system, allowing transactions to be checked by the NRS and completed on the same platform.

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According to him, companies looking to scale their financial operations must prioritise automation and standardised infrastructure rather than expanding operational teams.

“You don’t scale payment operations by adding headcount. You scale by automating decisions and standardising the infrastructure of your business,” Oyekola said.

The Nigerian government’s push toward electronic invoicing aligns with broader global trends where tax authorities are increasingly adopting digital reporting systems to reduce fraud, improve transparency, and boost revenue mobilisation.