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Nigeria’s capital market is undergoing a structural shift as rising domestic participation, digital distribution and large-scale capital raising deepen the market’s role in financing businesses and expanding ownership, according to Temi Popoola, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group.
The banking recapitalisation exercise, which saw 33 banks raise N4.65 trillion, and the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO have further demonstrated the market’s growing capacity to mobilise capital at scale.
In this interview with Nairametrics, Popoola discusses the structural changes driving Nigeria’s capital market, the growing influence of domestic investors, the role of technology in widening access to investment opportunities, lessons from the banking recapitalisation exercise and what Nigeria needs to do to attract more global capital while building a stronger domestic investor base.
Nairametrics: Domestic investors accounted for about 95% of total NGX transactions in August 2026, while retail investors contributed N615.83 billion. What are the key factors driving this stronger domestic participation, and what could a deeper domestic investor base mean for the resilience and development of Nigeria’s capital market?
Temi Popoola: The growth in domestic participation tells us that the Nigerian market is developing a stronger internal base of capital. Several factors are contributing to this, including improved access to market information, greater use of digital channels, increased investor awareness and a growing range of opportunities for Nigerians to participate in the market.
This is important for the long-term development of the market. A deeper domestic investor base creates a more diversified source of liquidity and reduces dependence on any single pool of capital, particularly during periods when global capital flows are volatile.
The bigger opportunity is to translate this participation into sustained investment. Nigeria has significant pools of domestic savings, and the challenge is to channel more of those savings into productive investment that supports businesses and economic growth.
A market anchored by domestic capital is ultimately more resilient and, importantly, more attractive to international investors. The objective remains building a market in which domestic and international capital reinforce each other rather than compete.
Nairametrics: The banking recapitalisation exercise was a significant test of the Nigerian capital market’s ability to mobilise capital at scale, while also introducing new ways for investors to access primary market offers. What did that experience reveal about the future of capital formation in Nigeria, and how can the market build on it to finance businesses and economic growth at an even greater scale?
Temi Popoola: The banking recapitalisation exercise demonstrated that Nigeria has significant capacity to mobilise capital domestically when regulation, market infrastructure, issuers and investors come together.
Over the two years, 33 banks raised N4.65 trillion in fresh capital. But the significance was not only the amount raised. The exercise also tested, at an unprecedented scale, the infrastructure through which capital could be mobilised and distributed to a much wider investor base.
NGX Invest was central to that infrastructure. Launched in 2024 following regulatory approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the platform facilitated approximately N2.8 trillion of the capital raised during the recapitalisation exercise, while significantly expanding the digital distribution of public offers.
That experience showed that capital formation is not only about the availability of capital. It is also about how efficiently you connect that capital to opportunities. Technology can expand distribution, reach investors at greater scale and reduce some of the friction historically associated with participating in public offers.
The opportunity now is to apply that capability much more broadly across the economy. The infrastructure and distribution capacity demonstrated through the recapitalisation exercise can support capital raising across sectors and help position the capital market to finance Nigerian businesses and economic growth at a much greater scale.
Nairametrics: Nigeria has taken important steps to improve market accessibility and global competitiveness, including the transition to T+1 settlement, at a time when the market is receiving renewed attention from global index providers such as FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices. What more needs to be done to strengthen Nigeria’s investability, deepen international participation and attract global capital, while continuing to build the strong domestic investor base that has increasingly supported the market?
Temi Popoola: The opportunity is to build a market that is strong on both fronts. A deeper domestic investor base provides resilience and a sustainable foundation for capital formation, while international participation brings additional pools of capital, global connectivity and diversity to the market.
We have made important progress on market infrastructure. The transition to T+1 settlement brings greater efficiency and aligns the market more closely with global standards, while renewed recognition from global index providers improves Nigeria’s visibility within the international investment community.
Looking ahead, the focus has to be on the broader question of investability. Global investors consider the depth and liquidity of the market, the quality of investable assets, the efficiency of execution and settlement, and importantly, the ability to exit and repatriate capital. That requires continued progress in liquidity, corporate governance, disclosure, foreign exchange liquidity and capital mobility, alongside greater consistency across the policy and regulatory environment.
At the same time, Nigeria has significant pools of domestic savings that can be mobilised more effectively into productive investment. Ultimately, we want a market where domestic capital provides a strong foundation, international capital can participate with confidence, and Nigerian corporates have access to deeper and more diverse pools of long term funding.
Nairametrics: You have described the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO as significant not only for its scale, but for what it demonstrates about the evolution of Nigeria’s capital market. Having spent the last three years strengthening the market’s digital infrastructure and distribution rails, what has this transaction revealed about Nigeria’s capacity to connect issuers with a broader investor base, and how do you see that infrastructure reshaping capital formation in the years ahead?
Temi Popoola: For me, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO demonstrates what becomes possible when large scale companies meet deep capital markets, modern distribution infrastructure and a broader investing public.
Over the past three years, the Group has focused on strengthening the infrastructure and distribution architecture required to support capital formation at greater scale. Today, NGX Invest connects issuers to more than 100 distribution channels spanning stockbrokers, banks, fintechs and other financial institutions through API based connectivity.
What matters strategically is what that infrastructure enables. The significance is that technology is expanding the reach of the market, enabling traditional and emerging financial channels to connect a broader pool of investors with investment opportunities.
That matters because democratising ownership requires democratising access. Nigerians already participate in the economy as consumers, employees, entrepreneurs and savers. The capital market should increasingly give them the opportunity to participate as owners in the businesses creating value across the economy.
What is particularly important about the infrastructure behind this transaction is that it does not disappear when an offer closes. These are distribution rails that can support the next public offer, the next issuer and, ultimately, a much broader pipeline of capital raising.
That is where I see the longer-term impact. If we can continue to connect quality businesses with deeper pools of capital while making participation easier for a broader investor base, we begin to change the way capital formation works in Nigeria.
Nairametrics: As technology and new distribution channels make the capital market accessible to a broader pool of investors, how do we ensure that investor education and protection evolve to ensure that broader participation translates into informed decision-making, investor confidence and sustained engagement with the market?
Temi Popoola: Access and understanding have to develop together. Technology can make it significantly easier for people to participate in the capital market, but widening access must be accompanied by the knowledge and safeguards that allow investors to make informed decisions.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been deliberate about this, with investor education and protection remaining central to the broader effort to deepen participation. Under the leadership of Dr. Emomotimi Agama, that focus continues alongside efforts to strengthen confidence and expand access to the market. Across the market ecosystem, our responsibility is to ensure that greater access is accompanied by stronger information, trusted channels and appropriate safeguards.
Technology itself can play an important role here. The same infrastructure that makes it easier to reach investors can also be used to deliver relevant information, reinforce the use of verified channels and provide investors with clearer guidance at the point of participation.
Ultimately, sustainable participation is built on trust. The objective should not simply be to bring more people into the market, but to ensure that they have the information, protection and confidence required to remain active participants over the long term.
Nairametrics: You have repeatedly argued that African businesses should increasingly be financed by African capital. What would have to change, technologically, institutionally and regulatorily, for an investor in Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg or Gaborone to participate more seamlessly in opportunities across African markets?
Temi Popoola: I would frame it somewhat differently. It is not about African capital replacing global capital. Africa will continue to need and attract capital from investors around the world. The opportunity is to also do a much better job of mobilising the significant pools of capital that already exist within the continent to finance African businesses.
Across Africa, pension funds, asset managers, financial institutions and individual investors control significant pools of savings, but much of that capital remains fragmented across markets, currencies and jurisdictions.
At the same time, African businesses continue to require substantial long term funding. The challenge is that capital and investment opportunities remain fragmented across markets, currencies and jurisdictions, making it more difficult for capital in one African market to reach opportunities in another.
Importantly, we are not starting from zero. The African Exchanges Linkage Project, led by the African Securities Exchanges Association in partnership with the African Development Bank, has already laid an important foundation for greater connectivity between African capital markets. Through AELP, participating exchanges have begun building the infrastructure for cross border securities trading, creating a pathway for investors in one African market to access opportunities in another.
The next step is to build on that foundation. Technology can help reduce some of these barriers. Greater interoperability between exchanges, brokers, central securities depositories and other market infrastructure can also make it easier for an investor in one African market to discover, access and participate in opportunities in another. But technology alone will not create an integrated market. We need stronger cooperation among regulators and market institutions, greater alignment around cross border investment frameworks, and more efficient arrangements for custody, settlement, payments and capital mobility.
The ambition is not to create one African exchange. It is to make our markets work together more effectively. If an investor in Lagos can access an investment opportunity in Nairobi, Johannesburg or Gaborone with significantly less friction, we can unlock more of the capital that already exists on the continent while also making African businesses more accessible to global investors. We need to do both.
Nairametrics: The Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO has demonstrated the capacity of Nigeria’s public market to accommodate businesses of significant scale. How do we translate that milestone into a broader pipeline of high quality listings, and position the capital market as a natural destination for Nigeria’s leading companies seeking capital, scale and broader ownership?
Temi Popoola: The significance of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO is not simply that the Nigerian market can accommodate a company of that scale. It demonstrates that the public market can connect a major Nigerian enterprise with a much broader pool of capital and, importantly, broaden ownership of the value being created by that enterprise.
We have already seen the market demonstrate considerable capacity for capital formation. In 2025 alone, NGX facilitated approximately N6.49 trillion in capital raising across government and corporate issuers. The opportunity now is to build on that capacity by bringing a broader pipeline of high-quality companies to the public market.
Nigeria has a substantial universe of successful private businesses across sectors that will require capital as they move into their next phase of growth. The proposition for those companies has to go beyond an IPO as a one off financing event. The public market should provide access to deeper and more diverse pools of capital over time, credible price discovery, liquidity for shareholders, greater institutional visibility and the ability to build a broader ownership base.
The challenge is therefore to make the public market a compelling strategic choice for Nigeria’s leading businesses. That means demonstrating that the market is not simply a venue for an IPO, but an ecosystem through which companies can access capital repeatedly, establish transparent valuation, broaden ownership and build institutional credibility as they grow.
The lasting significance of the Dangote transaction will therefore be measured partly by what comes after it. If it helps demonstrate to other leading Nigerian businesses that the public market can support their growth, provide access to capital at scale and broaden participation in the value they create, then it can become a catalyst for a much deeper listings pipeline and a stronger market overall.
