The planned listing of Dangote Petroleum Refinery could become one of the most consequential public offers in Nigeria’s capital-market history, according to Nigerian Exchange Group Chairman Umaru Kwairanga.
Kwairanga said investor interest in the refinery had created expectations that its initial public offering could attract millions of new participants and deepen market liquidity.
He described the refinery as a widely recognised national asset whose operations had already changed Nigeria’s refined petroleum market.
The NGX chairman also attributed the broader performance of the Nigerian stock market to macroeconomic reforms, recapitalisation programmes in several sectors and increased digital participation by retail investors.
He said subsidy removal, foreign exchange reforms and a return to conventional monetary policy had initially produced shocks but later improved the performance of many listed companies.
Kwairanga added that digital brokers and mobile trading platforms had helped draw younger investors into the market.
He said banking, industrial goods and oil and gas were among the strongest performing sectors in the first half of 2026.
Foreign investors were returning, he noted, although domestic investors still accounted for the larger share of market activity.
The expected refinery listing comes as Dangote strengthens its position in international fuel markets.
Market data showed that the refinery supplied more than 400,000 tonnes of jet fuel to Europe in July, about one fifth of the continent’s imports, making it Europe’s largest external supplier for a second consecutive month.
The performance followed record exports in June, when Nigeria overtook the United States as Europe’s leading imported jet-fuel supplier.
The refinery’s location on the Atlantic coast, large production scale and rising throughput have enabled it to compete with traditional suppliers from the United States, the Middle East and Asia.
Dangote Refinery said it was also expanding exports of diesel, petrol and other refined products to markets in Europe, Africa and elsewhere.
