NGX Mobilizes African Exchanges for Cross-Border Listings
The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) is leading a diplomatic push to unify Africa’s fragmented capital markets through cross-border listings. Group Chairman Umaru Kwairanga and CEO Temi Popoola recently hosted heads of major bourses from Johannesburg, Nairobi, Accra, and Addis Ababa in Lagos. The goal is to move past isolated trading floors toward a single investment landscape. Integration remains the only path to mobilising the scale of domestic capital required for the continent’s development.
The planned listing of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery serves as the primary test case for this pan-African experiment. As the world’s largest single-train refinery, the asset is being positioned to attract investors from multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, noted that his businesses aim to earn foreign currency while creating wealth for local shareholders. Listing such a “world-class” asset across several exchanges could prove whether African markets can truly sync their gears.
Regulatory hurdles currently make it difficult for capital to move across African borders. To address this, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Emomotimi Agama, pledged to support frameworks for multi-jurisdictional listings. Discussions in Lagos focused on harmonising settlement systems and improving market infrastructure. Without these technical fixes, cross-border trading remains a bureaucratic nightmare for both issuers and advisers.
Deepening liquidity is the ultimate prize for this collaboration. African exchanges often suffer from low trading volumes, which deters large international and institutional players. By aggregating demand through intermediaries like Stanbic IBTC and Vetiva Capital, the exchanges hope to position the continent as a competitive global destination. Success depends on the ability of different national regulators to trust one another’s oversight.
The shift toward integration signals a move away from external dependency. Kwairanga argued that Africa’s economic future depends on how effectively it mobilises its own wealth rather than waiting for foreign aid. Strengthening the links between the JSE, NSE, and BRVM would create a massive pool of capital that few individual nations can match. It is a strategy of strength through numbers.
The Dangote listing will be the definitive proof of concept. If the refinery successfully floats across multiple markets, it will provide a blueprint for other African conglomerates to follow. This would reduce the reliance on imported petroleum products while simultaneously strengthening Nigeria’s capital market depth. African exchanges are finally learning that they are more powerful as a network than as rivals.