E-Financial
SEC Flags Weak Disclosures by Nigerian Companies
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has raised concerns over weak sustainability reporting among Nigerian companies, warning that poor disclosure practices could hinder their access to global capital.
SEC also warned that firms that cannot demonstrate credible environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance risk being locked out of the international capital they need to grow.
Emomotimi Agama, director-general, SEC, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the launch of the Nigerian Corporate Sustainability Report by Norrenberger Research.
Agama told participants that sustainability reporting has migrated from the margins of corporate governance to the very core of how global investors decide where to deploy long-term capital.
For Nigerian companies, he said, catching up is no longer optional.
“Nigerian companies that wish to access the vast pool of patient, long-term capital must understand one unambiguous reality: the price of entry is disclosure. Credible, consistent, comparable, and verifiable disclosure,” he said yesterday.
The Norrenberger report, which assessed 160 companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange, found that a mere 21 met the firm’s ESG criteria — a pass rate of roughly 13 per cent.
Yet those outliers exercise disproportionate market influence: they collectively account for about 67 per cent of the bourse’s total market value and have consistently outperformed the broader market index over the preceding five years, according to Samuel Oyekanmi, chief research officer, who presented the findings.
Agama described the disclosure deficit among the remaining companies as a structural challenge the market must confront together.
He said many listed firms either lack coherent sustainability frameworks entirely or publish disclosures that cannot be independently verified — a situation that makes Nigerian equities unattractive to environment, social and governance-conscious institutional investors abroad.
The SEC chief pushed back against the notion that governance factors remain supplementary to financial analysis, arguing that a fundamental shift has occurred in how sophisticated investors evaluate risk and opportunity.
Institutional fund managers, he said, no longer apply ESG screens after arriving at an investment thesis; they build the thesis around ESG performance from the outset. “They are no longer treating ESG considerations as filters. They are the primary determinants of capital allocation decisions.”
That shift carries direct consequences for Nigeria. Agama pointed to the country’s N140 trillion capital market capitalisation as evidence of the sector’s scale — and argued that sustaining and expanding that figure requires the market to earn the confidence of international investors who apply the strictest disclosure standards.
Agama said the commission intends to act on multiple fronts.
Adding that the commission will sharpen its regulatory guidance on sustainability reporting, intensify engagement with listed companies on what disclosure obligations entail in practice, and introduce incentives designed to reward early adopters of rigorous ESG frameworks.
“We intend to strengthen our guidance on sustainability reporting, deepen engagement with listed companies on disclosure obligations, and create regulatory incentives for early adopters of robust sustainability frameworks.”
John Enoh, minister of State for Industry, said the country faces a material gap in reliable ESG data, which he identified as a constraint not only on private investment but also on evidence-based policymaking.
He called for a more deliberate effort across the corporate sector to improve transparency.Tony Edeh, group managing director of Norrenberger, anchored the business case for compliance in numbers. Companies that meet ESG standards outperform non-compliant peers by between 28 and 30 per cent, he said, adding that the correlation between ESG discipline and financial returns should itself be sufficient motivation for holdouts to act.
While only a small cohort of listed companies currently clears the bar, Edeh expressed confidence that a broader wave of compliance would arrive ahead of regulatory deadlines set for 2028.
The SEC’s intervention reflects a broader pressure that developing-market regulators now face as ESG investing reshapes capital flows globally. Nigeria is not alone in grappling with disclosure gaps, but the stakes are particularly high for an economy that depends on external capital to fund infrastructure, deepen industrialisation, and generate employment at scale.
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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