Umaru Kwairanga, chairman of the Nigerian Trade Group, dropped a significant replace over the weekend: the federal authorities plans to “promote a stake within the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm (NNPC) Restricted.”
He made the disclosure whereas delivering a keynote tackle on the ‘For the Love of Our Nation (FLOC)’ 2025 symposium held at Bayero College, Kano, in keeping with NAN.
That wasn’t all, Kwairanga revealed that “Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals would quickly be listed on the trade.” He pointed to imminent milestones within the oil and fuel sector, naming “the deliberate sale of a stake in NNPC Ltd and the anticipated itemizing of Dangote Petrochemicals” as strikes that would shake up Nigeria’s capital markets by considerably rising market capitalisation.
He spotlighted tech’s rising function in finance, citing the launch of “NGX Make investments, a digital platform for main market affords and {financial} literacy campaigns concentrating on youths, college students, and members of the Nationwide Youth Service Corps (NYSC).”
Behind the scenes, the NGX is in talks with institutional traders like pension fund managers and mutual funds. It’s additionally engaged on extra refined choices resembling “exchange-traded funds, derivatives, and moral funding devices.”
One of many bolder visions Kwairanga shared includes linking Africa’s capital markets. He stated efforts are underway to allow Nigerian traders to purchase and promote shares from different African international locations like Ghana, due to “cross-border linkages.”
“We’re assured that Nigeria can have the broader, deeper, and extra refined capital promote it deserves earlier than the tip of this decade,” he stated.
He aligned this imaginative and prescient with President Bola Tinubu’s $1 trillion GDP ambition by 2030, saying the Trade stays targeted on increasing the {financial} markets to assist that progress.
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Kwairanga acknowledged the present hurdles“declining disposable revenue, infrastructural deficits, and international {economic} headwinds”however maintained they may very well be overcome.
On efficiency, he shared exhausting numbers. The all-share index surged from 48,837 to 111,742 factors, whereas market capitalisation jumped from N26.375 trillion to N70.463 trillion by Might. Together with the bond market, whole capitalisation now exceeds N121 trillion.
“This progress reveals that now we have greater than doubled the indices of each our fairness and bond markets in simply over two years,” Kwairanga famous.
Nonetheless, he stated the NGX has greater targets: “making the capital market central to attaining a $1 trillion economic system.”
He described the capital market as key to long-term infrastructure funding, formalising extra companies, and higher representing Nigeria’s {economic} actuality.
However there’s nonetheless a spot. In comparison with South Africa’s JSE, which outpaces its nationwide GDP, “Nigeria’s market capitalisation stays lower than 20 % of Nigeria’s GDP.”
To shut that hole, the NGX, alongside the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC), has rolled out a number of steps to enhance market effectivity and transparency.
