Adeolu Martins
OPay, considered one of Africa’s main fintech corporations, has secured board and shareholder approval to pursue a secondary itemizing on Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) following the completion of its deliberate major itemizing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a improvement that aligns with Nigerian Exchange Group Plc’s (NGX Group) earlier advocacy for main Nigerian companies to checklist domestically and broaden alternatives for native possession.
The choice was disclosed in OPay’s Form F-1 registration assertion filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 9, 2026. The firm is pursuing an preliminary public providing (IPO) of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) and has utilized to checklist on the NYSE beneath the proposed ticker image ‘OPAY’. The deliberate Nigerian itemizing stays topic to market situations and relevant regulatory approvals.
The improvement comes barely two months after the Board and Management of NGX Group, led by its Chairman, Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga, and Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Temi Popoola, met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the place they advocated a deliberate nationwide technique to encourage main Nigerian companies, significantly expertise corporations, to checklist domestically or pursue twin listings.
During the August 6 engagement, Popoola particularly recognized OPay among the many main fintech corporations whose participation within the home capital market may broaden funding alternatives for Nigerians. His proposition was anchored on a broader ambition: guaranteeing that corporations producing important financial worth from Nigeria additionally present alternatives for home traders to take part of their progress and long-term wealth creation.
Popoola has constantly advocated shifting Nigerians past their roles as customers, staff and customers of companies to develop into shareholders within the companies driving financial progress. For an organization comparable to OPay, whose progress is supported by a considerable Nigerian buyer base, a home itemizing may present a chance for its customers to take part in its possession and share within the worth it creates.
Kwairanga has emphasised the capital market’s function as a essential nationwide platform for financing enterprise, supporting industrialisation and driving inclusive prosperity. From this angle, attracting main Nigerian companies to the Exchange just isn’t merely about growing listings; it’s about mobilising long-term capital to help enterprise progress whereas strengthening the hyperlink between company success and nationwide financial improvement.
OPay’s formal disclosure provides higher substance to this proposition. While its proposed US IPO would offer entry to worldwide capital, the deliberate secondary itemizing on NGX may set up a further pathway for Nigerian traders to take part within the firm’s progress, bringing home possession right into a enterprise with a major presence in Nigeria’s digital monetary companies sector.
The potential significance extends past OPay. Nigeria has produced a number of technology-driven companies with substantial operations, buyer bases and financial footprints, but alternatives for home traders to take part of their possession stay restricted. Encouraging these companies to entry the Nigerian capital market may assist bridge that hole, deepen market liquidity, broaden the Exchange’s sectoral illustration and join extra Nigerians to the wealth generated by the nation’s increasing digital financial system.
For NGX Group, the event reinforces the relevance of its ongoing engagement with policymakers, regulators and company leaders to place the capital market as a central platform for long-term capital formation. The Group’s agenda goes past attracting new listings to constructing a market able to supporting enterprise progress, mobilising home and worldwide capital, and increasing public participation in Nigeria’s financial improvement.
Although OPay has secured the required company approvals to pursue a Nigerian itemizing, the transaction stays contingent on the completion of its NYSE itemizing and compliance with relevant Nigerian regulatory and market necessities. Nevertheless, the corporate’s choice brings renewed consideration to a central message from NGX Group’s engagement with President Tinubu: Nigeria’s ambition to construct a globally aggressive financial system should be matched by alternatives for Nigerians to spend money on the companies driving that progress.
As extra Nigerian-focused corporations pursue worldwide enlargement and entry to world capital, the chance is to make sure that their success additionally interprets into broader home possession, deeper capital markets and extra inclusive wealth creation.
* Adeolu, a monetary market analyst, writes from Lagos
