By Adedapo Adesanya

American multinational financial technology company, PayPal, will now allow Nigerians to receive payments on its platform through a partnership with local fintech firm Paga, after decades of restrictions.

The development was disclosed by Paga’s founder, Mr Tayo Oviosu, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) announcing the long-awaited collaboration.

The partnership comes nearly 13 years after Mr Oviosu first reached out to PayPal with a proposal to work together, at a time when Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem was still in its early stages.

For years, Nigerians were unable to receive funds through PayPal due to restrictions placed on accounts in the country.

Under the new arrangement, users can now link their PayPal accounts to Paga wallets, enabling them to receive funds directly through PayPal, a functionality that had previously been unavailable.

“Our partnership unlocks that. Nigerian PayPal users who link their PayPal accounts to Paga can now receive money via PayPal. Only PayPal Nigeria accounts linked to Paga are enabled for receiving money,” Mr Oviosu said.

Now, Nigerian merchants and entrepreneurs can also leverage the integration to reach PayPal’s global network of more than 400 million users and expand their businesses internationally.

Through Paga’s platform, users can withdraw PayPal balances, spend via card, transfer funds to local bank accounts, and pay bills and merchants within the Paga ecosystem.

“Partnerships like this don’t happen overnight. They are the result of years of conversations, trust-building, regulatory work, and showing up consistently. I’m proud of the Paga team for staying the course. I’m grateful to the PayPal team for believing in the long-term vision. And I’m excited about what this unlocks for Nigerians participating in the global digital economy,” he said alluding the decade-long restrictions placed on the country.

“Whether you’re a freelancer receiving international payments, a business selling online, or a consumer shopping globally, this collaboration makes it easier to access and use global funds locally, in a way that’s simple, secure, and built for our markets,” he said.

On his part, the Senior Vice President, Regional Head and General Manager of PayPal Middle East and Africa, Mr Otto Williams, noted that the partnership aligns with PayPal’s focus on working with local innovators to support financial inclusion and participation in the digital economy.

“We’ve been intentional about partnering with local innovators like Paga and developing solutions that help Nigerians earn, spend, and grow,” Mr Williams said. “This collaboration helps strengthen the broader payments ecosystem by supporting local innovation, expanding financial inclusion, and enabling more consumers and businesses to participate confidently in the digital economy.”

This development comes three months after Nigeria exited the grey list countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) under increased monitoring for deficiencies in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) frameworks.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange improved by 0.33 per cent on Monday, January 26 on the back of renewed appetite for unlisted stocks by investors.

This moved the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) higher by 11.84 points to 3,650.94 points from the 3,639.10 points it ended when the market last opened for business.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange increased by N7.08 billion to end N2.184 trillion compared with last Friday’s closing value of N2.177 trillion.

Eight securities witnessed movements during the first trading day of this week, with five in the green side and three in the red zone.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc led the gainers group after  it recorded a price appreciation of N3.47 Kobo to sell at N69.70 per share versus N66.23 per share, Air Liquide Plc added N1.54 to close at N16.94 per unit versus N15.40 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc rose by N1.43 to N16.03 per share from N14.60 per share, IPWA Plc gained 20 Kobo to trade at N2.17 per unit versus N1.97 per unit, and Acorn Petroleum Plc surged by 1 Kobo to N1.30 per share versus last Friday’s N1.29 per share.

On the flip side, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc dropped 14 Kobo to close at N40.67 per unit versus N40.81 per unit, UBN Property Plc shrank by 9 Kobo to N2.00 per share from N2.09 per share, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc lost 6 Kobo to close at 63 Kobo per unit versus 69 Kobo per unit.

Yesterday, the trading volume slipped by 33.3 per cent to 6.8 million units from 10.2 million units, as the trading value declined by 17.3 per cent to N156.7 million from N189.5 million, and the number of deals decreased by 10.2 per cent to 44 deals from 49 deals.

At the close of trades, CSCS Plc was the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 14.2 million units worth N575.9 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 915,905 units sold for N61.7 million, and MRS Oil Plc with 296,801 units traded for N59.3 million.

CSCS  Plc was also the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 14.2 million units valued at N576.0 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 7.7 million units worth N52.4 million, and Mass Telecom Innovation Plc with 6.3 million units worth N2.5 million.

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of the week at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended in a stalemate as investors activated the cautious trading button.

It was observed that the key performance indices of the bourse remained relatively unchanged during the trading day, as the activity level slightly went down at the close of business.

Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) was marginally up by 5.38 points to 165,517.56 points from 165,512.18 points and the market capitalisation gained N4 billion to settle at N105.963 trillion compared with last Friday’s N105.959 trillion.

NPF Microfinance Bank topped the advancers’ log after chalking up 10.00 per cent to sell for N5.61, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.97 per cent to N8.27, Union Homes REIT jumped by 9.95 per cent to N78.45, Deap Capital expanded by 9.94 per cent to N7.85, and Zichis rose by 9.92 per cent to N2.88.

On the flip side, May and Baker declined by 10.00 per cent to N39.15, Neimeth depreciated by 9.81 per cent to N11.95, ABC Transport slipped by 9.33 per cent to N5.15, CWG tumbled by 9.05 per cent to N22.10, and Sovereign Trust Insurance crashed by 8.97 per cent to N3.45.

Investor sentiment remained bearish as Customs Street ended with 35 price gainers and 37 price losers, representing a negative market breadth index.

A total 601.7 million equities worth N17.3 billion were transacted in 58,429 deals during the session compared with 731.7 million equities valued at N19.1 billion traded in 44,005 deals in the preceding trading day, showing a surge in the number of deals by 32.78 per cent and a dip in the trading volume and value by 17.77 per cent and 9.42 per cent apiece.

Chams was the busiest stock for the session with 41.6 million units sold for N210.1 million, Access Holdings exchanged 34.4 million units valued at N768.6 million, GTCO transacted 31.6 million units worth N3.1 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 26.0 million units valued at N1.8 billion, and Guinea Insurance traded 25.0 million units worth N33.2 million.