The Federal Government has said it is targeting a capital market worth N750 trillion, with the listing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and Nigeria LNG Limited, NLNG, on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX.
The country’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, and the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this at the unveiling of the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan 2.0, developed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, in Abuja on Monday.
Shettima said the NGX had experienced significant growth since the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in May 2023.
On his part, Oyedele said Nigeria should aim for a $1 trillion capital market, equivalent to more than N750 trillion, within the next 10 years to support the country’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
According to him, there is an urgent need for the Federal Government to accelerate the listing of selected state-owned enterprises, particularly NNPC and NLNG.
He argued that making shares in the state-owned oil and gas companies available to investors would deepen the market, improve transparency and broaden public ownership of national assets.
“We cannot force them. We would encourage Nigerian private businesses to list. We will use incentives to attract them,” he said.
This comes as Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest refinery, opened its initial public offer (IPO) at N525 per share to raise between $1.6 billion and $2.1 billion to fund its capacity expansion programmes.
The deadline for the Dangote Refinery IPO was extended to October 27 following its historic launch on the NGX on September 14.
NNPC, NLNG Listings: FG targets N750trn capital market, eyes $1trn valuation