Economy
Nigeria, Ghana Renew Capital Market Ties for Economic Prosperity
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Over the weekend, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by its Director-General, Mr Lamido Yuguda, signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its counterpart in Ghana.
The agreement was sealed to encourage market integration between both nation’s being the largest markets in the West African sub-region and provide better opportunities for economic prosperity.
Mr Yuguda recalled that both countries had enjoyed a long period of progressive and mutually beneficial brotherhood and partnership with the same applying to both institutions, resulting in the first MoU in 2003.
“It is worthy of note that this brotherhood, had in 2003, paved the way for the signing of the current MoU, which today we have come to renew and put to greater use.
“The enduring relationship between our two jurisdictions is more amplified by the fact that Ghana and Nigeria both have the largest markets in the West African sub-region, and it will only be good foresightedness that we seize the advantage of our size and peculiarities, and explore viable areas of cooperation, even as we continue to work assiduously with other stakeholders to integrate our markets and provide greater opportunities for the economic prosperity of our peoples and our economies.
“In addition to its inherent benefits, this revised MOU will usher in an era of strengthened strategic cooperation and mutual support in the regulation of our markets towards the ultimate objective of enhancing their efficiency, transparency, depth, strength and, indeed, global competitiveness,” he said.
The SEC DG stated that in the spirit of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)and what nations in the region are hoping to achieve on a wider scale with WASRA, the collaboration would be a good pedestal for future and wider collaborations with other neighbours in the sub-region and beyond.
He said that with the revised MoU, both countries had developed a robust and inclusive document that is all-encompassing and reflective of current trends, emphasising that the goal of the West African capital markets integration programme is the creation of an enabling environment for cross-border securities transactions and the integration of all capital markets jurisdictions in the ECOWAS region.
“It will therefore be equally expected that we develop a tool of cooperation that enables our two institutions to effectively police our respective markets and ensure that the standards of regulation set out by IOSCO are sustained and, where possible, improved upon.
“However, without the readiness of all concerned, the lofty aims of the programme may as well continually remain a dream. It says unequivocally, this goal can only be achieved seamlessly when all member states of ECOWAS come on board and actively commit to achieving the noble objectives of the enhanced collaborative structure that these nature of agreements enable,” the DG said.
Mr Yuguda added that both the SEC Ghana and SEC Nigeria, desirous of achieving these ideals, have taken the lead by example by driving this project in the sub-region while hopefully aiming to someday expand its coverage beyond the sub-regional frontiers onto other parts of the continent of Africa.
The SEC DG expressed appreciation to other agencies like the African Development Bank towards the growth and integration of capital markets in the sub-region, adding that capital markets in the region are working with other institutions to ensure the provision of robust infrastructure in superintending over the capital market.
In his remarks, the DG of SEC Ghana, Mr Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, said both securities commissions are ready to work together and develop the potential of the capital market by examining issues and exploring ways to resolve them to make the capital markets work better.
“This is a good framework that will benefit both countries and the sub-region. If you want to go far, it is better to go along with others, which is why we always discuss cooperation in the capital market. We had an MoU in 2003 which centred on collaboration and leveraging the potential of the capital markets in the sub-region. We are better off when we pull together to attain the potential of our capital markets.
“Some progress has been made in the past, but we are not yet where we want to be; we could do more. Ghana and Nigeria can push forward in ways that will bring about the mutual benefits of leveraging the capital market. We need to have our markets open to each other so that we can achieve more and attain one big capital market,” Mr Tetteh said.
He expressed delight at the collaboration and pledged SEC Ghana’s commitment to continue supporting the initiative.
“The MoU has been revised to accommodate new direction to strengthen bilateral relations and measures towards deepening and growing markets through exchanges. This is significant, and the Ghana SEC will be committed to playing our role to ensure that this MoU results in tangible benefits. We will put it into operation so that our capital market will be deepened and experience growth that will lead to economic development.
“We need to come closer and take deliberate steps to achieve bilateral cooperation. We are very keen on this relationship. There is a strong relationship between us, so we must continue to nurture and grow it and create institutions that will help our people have better living standards. I hope we can achieve a lot by bringing our capital markets together. We need to make our institutions stronger as well as our economic activities.
“We need this collaboration to make accessing our markets as seamless as possible, easy for people to transfer assets, make investments and have confidence that the investments are protected in Ghana as they are in Nigeria and vice versa,” he stated.
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 Aduragbemi Omiyale
The names of about 100,000 companies registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are about to be deleted for inactivity, especially for failing to file their annual tax returns, Business Post reports.
This information was disclosed by the CAC via a notice signed by its management on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
The list contains organisations like the Nigeria-Poland Chamber of Trade Invest Ltd, Alariwo of Afrika Ltd, Ovation Sports International, First Union Pension Fund Administrators, Investopedia Limited, Baptist High School Abuja Ltd, and Yobe Aluminium Manufacturing Industries Ltd, amongst others.
In the statement, the commission said its decision to strike off the names of the affected firms from the register aligns with the provisions of Section 692(3) (3) and (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020.
However, the affected companies can still salvage the situation by filing all outstanding annual returns and regularising their records within 90 days.
“Please note that companies that fail to comply within the stipulated timeline shall be struck off the register without further notice,” it declared, expressing its continued commitment to providing prompt and efficient registration and regulatory services to the satisfaction of its valued customers.
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.
