By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) says the rollout of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) will strengthen tax compliance, curb revenue leakages and improve transparency in tax administration as it moves to fully digitise the country’s tax system.

The Project Lead for the NRS e-Invoicing Project, Mr Mohammed Bawa, stated this at the DigiTax E-Invoicing Compliance Breakfast Session held in Lagos on Wednesday.

The event, organised by DigiTax, an NRS-accredited e-invoicing platform, formed part of efforts to support the agency’s ongoing education and sensitisation campaign on the e-invoicing mandate.

Mr Bawa said the initiative aligns with global trends in tax digitisation and is expected to help improve Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which remains one of the lowest in Africa.

According to him, the system will provide the NRS with greater visibility into transactions across sectors, formalise activities within the informal economy and standardise invoice formats nationwide using globally recognised invoice schemas.

He added that e-invoicing would improve operational efficiency for both businesses and tax authorities while supporting the NRS’ transition from manual and electronic tax administration processes to a fully automated system-to-system interaction model.

Mr Bawa noted that the legal framework for implementation is backed by the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, which prescribes penalties for non-compliance.

He disclosed that the NRS has completed onboarding large taxpayers and is preparing to enforce compliance with defaulting entities.

According to him, medium taxpayers are expected to begin compliance in the third quarter of 2026, while onboarding of emerging taxpayers will commence in 2027, with full adoption targeted for all taxpayers by the end of 2028.

Mr Bawa urged taxpayers yet to be onboarded onto the platform to begin the process and work with accredited service providers to ensure compliance.

On his part, Country Director of DigiTax Nigeria, Mr Olumide Akinsola, urged businesses to look beyond their internal systems and assess the compliance status of suppliers and counterparties.

He warned that businesses whose suppliers fail to transmit invoices through the MBS platform risk losing eligibility to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) input credits on such transactions, describing the resulting supply chain exposure as a significant commercial risk that many organisations have yet to quantify.

Mr Akinsola also announced the launch of DigiTax’s white paper, The State of E-Invoicing Readiness in Nigeria, which examines compliance adoption trends and the readiness gap across different taxpayer segments.

He added that DigiTax operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting that experience from those markets shows businesses that integrate early are better positioned to avoid disruptions when enforcement begins.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange gained 1.75 per cent on Wednesday, July 15, pushing the NASD Security Index (NSI) up by 74.20 points to 4,316.51 points from 4,242.31 points, as the market capitalisation added N44.54 billion to finish at N2.590 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N2.546 trillion.

During the session, there was an 11.5 per cent rise in the value of transactions at midweek to N72.7 million from the preceding session’s N65.2 million, as there was a 3.7 per cent growth in the number of deals to 28 deals from the previous session’s 27 deals, while the volume of securities slumped by 64.5 per cent to 4.9 million units from 13.7 million units.

At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended as the most active security by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, with the second spot occupied by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc after selling 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and the third position was taken by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which exchanged 74.3 million units for N5.3 billion.

GNI Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.

Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative yesterday, as there were two price gainers and three price losers.

11 Plc added N22.36 to its value to close at N250.00 per share versus N227.64 per share, and CSCS Plc improved by N7.95 to N90.35 per unit from N82.40 per unit.

On the flip side, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.37 to end at N150.00 per share versus N151.37 per share, UBN Property Plc depreciated by 6 Kobo to N1.75 per unit from N1.81 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc dropped 1 Kobo to close at N2.49 per share versus N2.50 per share.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Pressure on the Naira eased on Wednesday, July 15, as it appreciated against the United States Dollar by 90 Kobo or 0.07 per cent on Tuesday, July 15, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to close at N1,382.18/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,383.08/$1.

Also, the local currency gained a further N4.07 against the Euro in the official market to sell at N1,576.69/€1 versus Tuesday’s rate of N1,583.76/€1, but depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N1.71 to quote at N1,856.69/£1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,854.98/£1.

At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira lost N1 against the greenback at midweek to close at N1,389/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,388/$1, and at the black market, it traded flat at N1,405/$1.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX turnover moderated as trading activities among financial institutions and market makers declined sharply.

Daily FX data released showed that NFEM interbank FX turnover closed the day at $121.727 million, about 50 per cent below the previous record of $243.095 million set on Tuesday.

Official trading records released by the central bank revealed that interbank FX deals among market makers went down from the previous day to 115 from 140.

Inflation news also eased pressure, even if the print dropped marginally to 15.91 per cent in June, a 0.2 per cent reduction from the 15.93 per cent recorded in the preceding month. The month-on-month headline inflation rate in June 2026 was 1.66 per cent, which was 0.09 per cent lower than the rate recorded in May 2026, which came in at 1.75 per cent.

In the crypto market, prices were mixed as some traders banked on softer-than-expected US inflation reports for June, while others say the inflation data is obsolete, given the renewed strength in oil prices, which sparked after fresh fighting in the Middle East.

US inflation had earlier cooled more than expected, sharply reducing market odds of a near-term Federal Reserve rate hike.

Ethereum (ETH) rose by 1.9 per cent to $1,921.62, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to $1.11, and Binance Coin (BNB) also increased by 0.4 per cent to $582.42.

However, Solana (SOL) dropped 1.3 per cent to finish at $77.29, TRON (TRX) slumped by 0.8 per cent to $0.3240, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 0.6 per cent to $0.0741, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 0.3 per cent to $64,762.28, and Cardano (ADA) lost 0.2 per cent to end at $0.1640, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.