Business Hub: Nigeria's Biggest Business News

The line between policy and commerce blurs when a monetary authority becomes a market operator. This is the reality facing Nigeria as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which is already the largest shareholder of the FMDQ Securities Exchange with roughly 15% of the exchange, attempts to take a more direct role in the trading of fixed-income and government securities.

The issue is bigger than who runs a particular market platform. FMDQ is a major part of Nigeria's financial-market infrastructure, handling activities around securities trading, listing, clearing and settlement. The CBN, meanwhile, is the country's monetary authority and regulator.

The concern is simple: can the same institution influence the rules of a market while also participating in that market?

The CBN has argued that its move is about improving transparency and market efficiency. But critics say moving commercial market functions closer to the central bank could create conflicts of interest and blur the line between regulation and market operations.

For Nigeria's financial market, how this is resolved matters because investors need confidence that the rules are clear and that everyone is playing on a level field.

Nigeria's high interest-rate environment is beginning to show up in another place: how much money people can borrow.

The cost of borrowing remains high, and banks have become more cautious about lending as monetary conditions remain tight. That combination is putting pressure on consumer credit and reducing the amount of money available to individuals who depend on loans to finance major purchases or deal with rising living costs.

For households, the problem is straightforward. When borrowing becomes more expensive, fewer people can afford to take loans. For banks, tighter lending also means managing the risk that customers may struggle to repay.

This creates a difficult cycle for the economy. Consumers have less access to credit, while businesses that depend on consumer spending can also feel the pressure.

The bigger question is how long Nigerians can operate in an economy where earning money is hard, saving it is harder, and borrowing it costs even more.

Nigeria's electricity problems are no longer just about whether there is enough power on the grid. The money behind the system is becoming a bigger problem.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has taken action against the Kaduna electricity distribution structure over a debt burden reportedly reaching ₦456.6 billion.

The move highlights the financial problems that continue to affect Nigeria's power sector. Distribution companies have to collect enough money from customers to pay for the electricity they receive, while also dealing with technical losses, unpaid bills and other operating costs.

When those payments don't come through, the debt moves through the electricity value chain.

For businesses, this eventually becomes a cost of doing business. Companies already spending heavily on diesel, generators and alternative power cannot easily absorb another round of electricity-related costs.

The Kaduna situation shows that Nigeria's power problem is also a business and financing problem.

Nigeria's oil, gas and mining sectors are coming under another round of international scrutiny as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) begins its 2026 validation process.

The Federal Government has said it is committed to transparency and wants the exercise to help deepen reforms in the management of Nigeria's natural resources. The validation will examine areas including transparency, stakeholder participation and how extractive-sector revenues and contracts are managed.

This matters because Nigeria still depends heavily on the extractive sector. Oil and gas alone accounted for about 54.4% of government revenues and 82.52% of exports in Nigeria's latest EITI data.

Nigeria's last EITI validation gave the country a moderate score of 72, while identifying gaps around areas such as contract and licence transparency, beneficial ownership and stakeholder engagement.

So this year's assessment is more than another report. It is another test of whether the reforms Nigeria says it has made are actually showing up in how the country's natural resources are managed.