E-Financial
Renaissance Capital Investors Conference Resounds Expectations from Buhari
Over 150 investors representing both global and frontier funds and 50 companies from across the African continent participating at the 3-day Renaissance Capital 6th Annual Pan-Africa 1:1 Investor Conference in Lagos, have re-echoed the thrust the incoming Muhammedu Buhari, president-elect’s, government should build its core values.
While recognizing that the outgoing government led by President Goodluck Jonathan should be remembered for checkmating the country’s debt profile, resulting in some positive economic outlooks in the current oil sector downturn, however, issues revolving around making corruption costly and unattractive, and robust private sector complemented by entrepreneurial and goal-oriented public sector, have become paramount in the present day economy.
In a keynote address, Professor Pat Utomi, a professor of Economics, said that the immediate challenge the incoming government should tackle is conserve the nation’s economic potentials and stimulate them to enable greater productivity.
Essentially, Utomi said it is investors’ hope that the new government will reinvent the sector like the mining and build clusters of industries around it; strengthen institutions, property rights, enabling environments and promote national strategy.
Such national strategy, he continued, will imply blocking all revenue leakages, increase productivity of available funds and creating values for money.
To articulate such, the Professor said that professional accountants should be involved to minimize expenses; diversify the nation’s economic bases, sectorially and geopolitically.
“Yes, we expect the incoming government, to stimulating the existing economic potentials of the country by way of improving revenue collection, extend the tax net, stimulate economic growth that will produce future tax; i.e., that creates regional competitiveness.
“The incoming government also needs to adopt new core values where emphasis of policies should move towards the well-being of the average citizens rather than special interest groups. On power sector, let there be a refocus on how to distribute power, because Nigerians are in dire need of power. Engage the power of the private sector for development.
“It is our honest expectation that sectors like power, infrastructure, finance & banking, SMEs, culture, ICT will be improved upon for even availability of service to the citizenry,” he said.
Professor Utomi also predicted that there will be an economic resolution in favour of the manufacturing sector.
The event by Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, helps facilitate further investment in continent’s fast-growing markets by bringing together leading international investors and companies from across Africa.
Igor Vayn, chief executive officer, Renaissance Capital, said, “We are confident in the vast untapped development potential of African countries, fuelled by expanding economies and a growing consumer base. Since we first launched herein 2007, we have maintained our deep commitment to grow our presence on the ground. As markets have evolved and become more mature, we have broadened our offering in Africa”.
He added that going forward, Renaissance Capital will continue to develop its business in the continent to support the economic growth and facilitate further investment in Africa’s fast-growing markets.
According to Vayn, “This year, we bring the conference to Nigeria at a profoundly important moment for the country. The peaceful presidential election and transfer of power to Muhammadu Buhari are a testament to the success of the electoral process. The prospect of reforms by a new administration implies significant upside potential for Nigeria over the medium term. We think Nigeria is at the cusp of a recovery, and the low oil price combined with a change in the government provides the best investment opportunity in years.”
Renaissance Capital’s “Frontier and emerging markets: Reform awakens” report issued last week once again proves the increasing strength of African markets and highlights the breadth of opportunities the continent presents.
Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital, noted thus, “We see great long-term potential across Africa, particularly, in Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.”
“We believe Nigeria will be a trillion dollar economy by 2025 and it will keep doubling in size every 10 years. GDP per capita is likely to reach around $15,000 by 2050. Following the April elections, the new government represents the best opportunity in recent years to push forward reform for Africa’s largest economy.”
The three-day conference will host over 1,000 one-on-one meetings and dedicated sector site visits, including to Ghana.
Founded in 1995, Renaissance Capital is a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank with operations in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and offices in major financial centres, such as London, New York and Dubai.
It has established market-leading positions in each of its core businesses – M&A, equity and debt capital markets, securities sales and trading, research and derivatives.
The Firm continues to build its practices in metals & mining, oil & gas and agriculture across its target markets. Renaissance Capital is part of ONEXIM Group.
Debt Management Office (DMO) said the federal government spent N3.14 trillion on servicing its domestic debt in the first quarter of 2026.
The office disclosed the data in its latest domestic debt service report for Q1 2026.
The figure comprises N2.97 trillion in interest payments and N169.68 billion in principal repayments.
The agency said in January, the government spent N741.82 billion on domestic debt service, while the figure rose to N967.67 billion in February.
Debt service increased further to N1.43 trillion in March, bringing the total for the quarter to N3.14 trillion.
The March figure was 47.7 percent higher than the N967.67 billion recorded in February and 92.7 percent above the N741.82 billion spent in January.
Also, the debt office said interest payments accounted for about 94.6 percent of total domestic debt service during the quarter.
The DMO said treasury bills accounted for the largest share of interest payments at N1 trillion, while interest on federal government bonds stood at N1.96 trillion.
The agency said the government also paid N4.24 billion in interest on FGN savings bonds during the period.
The DMO said the principal component of the debt service comprised N169.68 billion in repayments on local-denominated promissory notes.
Overall, the government’s domestic debt service rose sharply through the quarter, with March accounting for almost half of the N3.14 trillion spent between January and March.
Nigeria’s public debt increased by 0.01 percent to N159.35 trillion in the Q1 of 2026.
Interswitch Group, an integrated digital payments and commerce company, together with global banking software provider, Temenos have reassured the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of their commitment to advancing the modernisation of Nigeria’s financial services sector.
Interswitch and Temenos had earlier in June announced a strategic partnership across Africa which would see Interswitch leverage Temenos solutions – across core banking, digital banking, payments, wealth management and financial crime mitigation – to provide cloud-hosted and on-premises managed services to banks and financial institutions across Africa.
This will enable institutions to progressively transform their banking platform and evolve to more customer-centric business models. The service will initially support key African markets including Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and others.
The recent regulatory visit to CBN headquarters in Abuja, was led by the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, and Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Temenos, Santhosh Rao, as part of the ongoing efforts by both organisations to deepen collaboration with Central Banks across the African region on the future of digital banking infrastructure across Nigeria and key African markets.
Discussions centred on the strategic partnership between Interswitch and Temenos, and how it will enable Nigerian financial institutions to progressively modernise their core banking platforms and transition to more customer-centric business models.
The two organisations also explored opportunities to work with the CBN in charting new frontiers in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) innovation, leveraging resilient financial networks and decentralised application platforms to support the issuance and management of CBDCs.
Commenting on the visit, Elegbesaid: “Our partnership as Interswitch with Temenos and our continued engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria reflect a shared commitment to building banking infrastructure that is resilient, inclusive, and ready for the next phase of Africa’s financial evolution.
We are proud to be at the table as these conversations shape the future of digital banking technology and innovation across key Africa markets…”
The Bank of Industry, through BOI Financing SPV Plc, has opened subscriptions for its inaugural Series 1 Fixed Rate Bond worth up to N250bn under its $1bn multi-currency instruments programme, seeking to raise long-term capital to finance businesses across Nigeria’s priority sectors.
The offer, which opened on 5 August and closes on 11 August, is being arranged by Chapel Hill Denham as the lead issuing house. The five-year bond is priced within a yield range of 17.35 per cent to 17.50 per cent and will be listed on the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
According to the offer document, proceeds from the issuance will be deployed to finance eligible businesses and projects across sectors, including agriculture and food processing, healthcare, engineering and technology, renewable energy, petrochemicals, oil and gas, creative industries and solid minerals, in line with BOI’s development finance mandate.
The lender said the financing is expected to improve access to medium and long-term funding for Nigerian enterprises, expand productive capacity, create and preserve jobs, deepen local value addition, support import substitution, boost exports and strengthen domestic value chains.
BOI, Nigeria’s foremost development finance institution, said it has provided funding to more than one million businesses across the country and disbursed over N1.27tn between 2023 and 2025. The institution operates across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory and is jointly owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The bank also highlighted its financial performance, reporting a 36 per cent compound annual growth rate in gross earnings between 2021 and 2025.
Interest income rose 64 per cent to N884bn in 2025 from N538bn in the previous year, while its capital adequacy ratio stood at 39 per cent, nearly four times the regulatory minimum of 10 per cent. Its non-performing loan ratio was 1.7 per cent, below the CBN’s prudential limit of five per cent.
The bond has been assigned AAA ratings by Agusto & Co. and Intelligence Africa, reflecting the issuer’s strong capitalization, profitability, liquidity and ownership structure.
The issuance is open to institutional and qualified investors with a minimum subscription of N5m and additional investments in multiples of N1m. Interest will be paid semi-annually at a fixed rate, while principal repayment will begin in the third year through equal semi-annual amortised instalments until maturity in 2031.
The bond is also exempt from tax, making it an attractive investment option for investors seeking stable returns amid expectations of declining interest rates.
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