Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele urges the federal government to list NNPC and NLNG as part of a proposal to grow Nigeria’s capital market to $1 trillion.
Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, has called on the federal government to speed up plans to list selected state-owned enterprises as part of efforts to grow Nigeria’s capital market to $1 trillion within the next decade.
Speaking at the National Capital Market Conference 2026 in Abuja on Monday, Oyedele said Nigeria should aim higher than the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) target of expanding the market from about ₦250 trillion to ₦750 trillion by 2036.
“Not Less Than $1 Trillion”
The minister said a $1 trillion capital market would support Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030 and growing it further afterwards. He said the country needs to mobilise domestic savings, attract foreign investment and give businesses more opportunities to raise long-term capital locally.
“So by the time we become a $1.5 trillion economy, our capital market cannot and should not be less than $1 trillion,” he said, according to Nairametrics.
Oyedele said the $1 trillion figure is a target he is proposing, separate from the ₦750 trillion goal in the SEC’s new master plan. He said equity market capitalisation should rise from about 33 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to at least 60 percent, and that this would require coordinated regulation, modern market infrastructure, stronger institutions and new investment products.
He noted that the equity market had grown from less than ₦30 trillion in mid-2023 to about ₦160 trillion.
NNPC and NLNG
On state-owned enterprises, Oyedele said listing selected government assets would improve transparency, broaden public ownership and deepen the capital market. He named the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) as companies whose listings could significantly expand the market.
“NNPC, NLNG, those choice assets of government have to be listed because, by doing that, I believe that we will actually get a win-win outcome,” he said.
He compared NNPC with Saudi Aramco, which he said is worth $1.6 trillion, and suggested a cleaned-up and listed NNPC could be worth more than the entire capital market today. That is the minister’s estimate, and no valuation was presented.
He said listing government-owned companies would let Nigerians share in the wealth generated by national assets while creating more investment opportunities for domestic and foreign investors.
Incentives, Not Compulsion, for Private Firms
Oyedele also said the government plans to introduce incentives to encourage privately owned companies to list on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), rather than forcing them to offer shares to the public.
He launched the National Savings Scheme, designed by the SEC to give Nigerians regulated ways to save and invest for education, housing, business development and retirement.
The Master Plan
Vice-President Kashim Shettima unveiled the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan 2.0 (2026-2036) at the conference. Developed by the SEC, it aims to grow the market from a baseline of about ₦250 trillion to ₦750 trillion by 2036. SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama said the plan is designed to deepen participation, widen the range of investment products and strengthen the integrity and infrastructure of the market. The Vice-President said the plan would be treated as a national initiative.
Senator Osita Izunaso, chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, separately urged the federal government to encourage more companies, especially NNPC and telecommunications firms, to list on the NGX, saying their participation would allow ordinary Nigerians to own shares in some of the country’s largest businesses.
