Business

Nigeria’s capital market has received a major boost after S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) placed the country on its 2027 Country Classification Watchlist for a possible upgrade from a Standalone Market to a Frontier Market. The move comes as Bloomberg also ranked Nigeria’s stock market as the world’s best-performing equity market in dollar terms this year, ahead of South Korea. According to S&P DJI, Nigeria's inclusion on the watchlist reflects “improvements in the country's regulatory environment, transparency, enforcement and overall market integrity. Although the decision does not amount to an immediate reclassification,” it places Nigeria under formal review for a potential upgrade during the 2027 assessment. S&P DJI stated that sustained policy implementat...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reaffirmed that both the standard ₦100 banknote and the commemorative ₦100 note remain valid legal tender and must be accepted for all transactions nationwide. The clarification was issued on Wednesday in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali, following reports that some individuals and businesses had refused to accept the standard ₦100 note over concerns about its legal status. According to the apex bank, the commemorative ₦100 note introduced to mark Nigeria’s centenary was never intended to replace the existing standard ₦100 banknote, as both versions continue to circulate legally. The CBN warned members of the public, businesses, financial institutions, and other economic operators against r...

The Federal Government has directed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, to investigate X (formerly Twitter) Meta, other major technology firms and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies over alleged anti-media and anti-competitive practices in Nigeria. According to a statement released by the FCCPC yesterday, the directive followed a joint petition submitted to the Presidency by the Nigerian Press Organisation, NPO, comprising the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN; the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ; the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON; and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP. The government conveyed the directive in a letter signed by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed I...

PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 28: In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a Meta logo on October 28, 2021 in Paris, France. This October 28, during the Facebook Connect virtual conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced the name change of Facebook, believing that the term Facebook was too closely linked to that of the platform of the same name, launched in 2004. It is now official, the Facebook company changes its name and becomes Meta. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images) A Federal High Court in Lagos has set aside the ₦60 billion sanction imposed by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria against Facebook Nigeria Operations Limited over alleged unapproved advertisements targeted at the Nigerian market. The court ruled tha...

Independent petroleum marketers have pushed for the restoration of importation rights and projected that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, could fall below N800 per litre as the Federal Government intensified efforts to force down the cost of petrol.The development came as the Federal Government met with major operators in the downstream petroleum sector, including representatives of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, over what it described as the disconnect between falling global crude oil prices and the relatively high pump prices of petrol in the domestic market.The stakeholders’ meeting on cost-reflective pricing of PMS, held at the headquarters of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja, brought together the Federal Com...

The Federal Government spent ₦358.32 billion on electricity subsidies in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest report released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. In its First Quarter 2026 report published on Monday, the commission disclosed that the subsidy represented a 14.44 percent decrease from the ₦418.79 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025. According to NERC, the reduction was largely driven by lower electricity offtake by electricity distribution companies (DisCos), rather than improvements in cost recovery through tariffs. The commission explained that electricity tariffs remain below cost-reflective levels, requiring the Federal Government to continue bridging the gap between the actual cost of electricity generation and the approve...

Shareholders of Dangote Cement Plc have approved a final dividend of N45 per ordinary share for the financial year ended 31 December 2025, bringing the total payout to an unprecedented N753.8bn. The approval came as the company reaffirmed its long term strategy of expanding across Africa through aggressive investments in production capacity, cleaner energy, and operational efficiency. The dividend was approved at the company’s 17th Annual General Meeting in Lagos, where the Chairman of Dangote Cement Plc, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, said the firm was positioning Africa for self sustaining industrial growth by leveraging local resources and strategic investments. The National President of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Dr Faruk Umar, lauded the g...

Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce, including a large number of workers at its Xbox video game business. The layoffs included 1,600 Xbox workers. More layoffs are expected to come this year in a broader reorganization designed to “reset” Xbox as it faces heightened competition, the company said Monday, July 6. “Our business today is not healthy,” said a memo from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over the gaming division earlier this year.  \ “We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.” Sharma said the industry, in which Xbox competes with Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Switch, is facing a severe “hardware crisis” as costs soar for console components.

The World Bank has stated that Nigeria’s biggest fiscal challenge is weak revenue mobilization rather than excessive borrowing, urging the government to prioritize efforts to boost revenue generation to support sustainable economic growth. Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Friday, July 3, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, said Nigeria’s debt profile remains moderate by international standards and is significantly different from countries experiencing debt distress “From our assessment, Nigeria doesn’t have a high indebtedness problem; it has a low revenue problem,” Verghis said. He explained that Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio is lower than that of many comparable countries, stressing that concerns should focus on improving governme...

A Federal High Court in Lagos has advised parties involved in a ₦98.5 billion patent infringement case — Enterprise Logistics Speciale Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc and Avanage Nigeria Limited — to explore an amicable resolution. Justice Deinde Dipeolu gave the recommendation after declining to begin trial because some defendants were not represented in court. The plaintiffs, Enterprise Logistics Speciale Limited and its Managing Director, Samuel Kolajo, are seeking damages over alleged infringement of their patented cash management technology, breach of a Non-Disclosure Agreement and losses allegedly suffered due to the non-deployment of their solution on Nigeria’s national payment infrastructure. Court encourages settlement Dur...