POSSAP is short for the Police Online Special Services Application Portal. It is possap.gov.ng, and it is where several Nigeria Police Force services move from a station counter to a web form.
What POSSAP actually is
POSSAP is the Nigeria Police Force's portal for requesting and paying for services the police charge a fee for. It is not a general enquiries site, and it is not where you report a crime. It exists specifically for the paid, procedural side of policing that people need a document or a permit for.
The police character certificate is the service most people search for. It sits alongside several others on the same portal.
When it launched
POSSAP launched in June 2022. Reporting from that period named the police character certificate and police extracts among the first services offered on it, which is why both still run through the same portal today.
What else runs through POSSAP
Beyond the character certificate, POSSAP lists other fee-based Police Specialised Services. Two worth knowing:
- Police extracts. A fee-based police service, the same category the character certificate sits in.
- Tint permits. Applied for online on POSSAP, then biometric capture at a police command.
Escorts and firearm licences are also mentioned in police guidance as POSSAP services, though this site has not found enough published detail on either to cover them properly yet.
That range is worth knowing, because it explains why POSSAP does not feel like a single-purpose site. It was built to hold several fee-based requests under one login and one payment method, rather than have each service run its own separate system.
How payment works across POSSAP
Every service on the portal follows the same payment rule the police have stated publicly: online through the POSSAP invoice only. You should not need to pay anyone at a police station for a service that starts on POSSAP.
This matters because a fee paid outside the invoice is not something the portal, or a filing service working from it, can trace or refund.
POSSAP and CMRIS are not the same portal
It is easy to assume every police portal is one system. It is not. Vehicle registration, the e-CMR and stolen-vehicle reporting run on separate portals, with cmris.npf.gov.ng handling registration.
Common mix-ups
- Assuming POSSAP covers every police service. It covers the fee-based ones. A criminal complaint still goes to a police station.
- Treating a published fee figure as final. Confirm the actual amount on your own invoice once you reach payment.
- Looking for POSSAP to register a vehicle. That happens on CMRIS instead.
- Expecting a reply by phone or email. These services run through the portal itself, so check your application status there rather than waiting on a call.
If you are here for the character certificate specifically, our guide to the cost and process walks through it end to end, and you can start a police character certificate request once you are ready. For the rest of what this cluster covers, see our police certificate articles.