Ogochukwu Onwaeze, THEWILL

Eight years after entering the Nigerian market, financial technology company OPay is evolving from a digital payments platform into a broader financial services provider, reflecting the changing way Nigerians access and manage money.

Foreign institutional investors returned to Nigerian equities on Monday as Nigeria officially regained its FTSE Russell Frontier Market status, with major banking stocks attracting some of the strongest trading activity.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving to tighten regulation of Nigeria’s online forex and contracts-for-differences market, with proposed higher capital requirements, stricter operating standards and stronger safeguards for customers’ funds.

Nigeria has officially returned to FTSE Russell’s Frontier Market classification, effective from the opening of trading on September 21, ending a three-year period in which the country was classified as Unclassified.

Nigeria’s equities market (NGX) started the week on a positive note on Monday, with the market capitalisation rising by N228bn to close at N162.385tn as the benchmark All-Share Index crossed the 250,000 level.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE plans to pursue a listing on the New York Stock Exchange after completing the expansion of its Lagos refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day by the first quarter of 2029.

Oliver Alawuba, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UBA, made the call in Abuja during the celebration of Brazil’s National Day, hosted by the Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil in Nigeria.

Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose for the third consecutive month in August 2026, reaching ₦84.55 trillion, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Brent crude futures fell $2.16, or 2.08 percent, to $101.71 a barrel by 0213 GMT, after touching their lowest level since September 10. US West Texas Intermediate crude declined $2.15, or 2.14 percent, to $98.15 a barrel.

Nigeria will, on Monday, September 21, return to the FTSE Russell Frontier Market universe, ending a three-year period in which its equities were excluded from the global index provider’s frontier-market classification.