Seven stories.
Every morning at seven.

SEVEN STORIES. EVERY MORNING AT SEVEN.

Yesterday,
brought into
focus.

The morning seven today looks at OPay’s route to a local listing, Lagos’s 3,000MW power target, NUPRC’s shut-in oil recovery push, and what Sterling’s reconstruction and Cowry’s transit data say about Nigerian money flows.

12 October 20267 a.m. WAT~5 min read
THE MORNING SEVEN, READ TO YOUAI-narrated · 9 min listen
0:00 / 8:04

The morning seven

01.
FintechNigeria / New YorkTHE BIG PICTURE

OPay gets internal approval to pursue NGX secondary listing

OPay has secured board and shareholder approval to pursue a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange after completing its planned primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange, but the step is still conditional rather than a completed transaction. The approval was disclosed in its US SEC registration statement, which also says the Nigerian listing will depend on market conditions, local regulatory approvals and NGX requirements. For Nigerian investors, the practical importance is access: OPay’s operations are heavily concentrated in Nigeria, which accounted for 89.5 percent of its revenue in the first half of 2026, yet its main public-market fundraising is planned for the US. The filing also warns that NGX-traded securities may not initially be interchangeable with its NYSE American depositary shares, meaning liquidity could be split and prices could differ across markets.

Read at BusinessDay ↗
02.
InfrastructureLagos, Nigeria

Lagos targets more than 3,000MW electricity supply by March 2027

Lagos State says it plans to raise electricity supply above 3,000MW by March 2027 from below 1,000MW, a target Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented at the Lagos Business School Africa Energy Conference through his deputy, Kadri Hamzat. The plan is to mobilise an additional 2,000MW through grid resources, independent power projects, energy hubs, power barges, energy traders and embedded generation. The state framed the target as part of building a 24-hour power economy, but the hard work sits across the full chain: generation, transmission, distribution, gas supply, metering and market coordination. Lagos also cited solarisation of about 42,000 streetlights and projects in public schools. For residents and businesses, the pledge matters because power reliability directly affects production costs, informal businesses, digital services and household spending.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
03.
InfrastructureNigeria

NUPRC identifies 788,000 bpd of shut-in oil production for restoration

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission says it has identified more than 788,000 barrels per day of shut-in oil production across 63 operators and is targeting those volumes for restoration. Shut-in production refers to wells that can produce but are currently offline because of operational, technical, commercial or other constraints. NUPRC said 77 wells were re-entered between January and September 2026, while 128 wells were approved for drilling. The commission also linked the recovery push to larger upstream goals, including moving offshore projects worth an estimated $30 billion to $50 billion towards final investment decision and improving domestic gas delivery. For Nigeria, the execution gap is crucial: restoring existing idle capacity could support export earnings and government revenue faster than entirely new discoveries, if operators can resolve the constraints.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
04.
PolicySub-Saharan Africa / Nigeria

World Bank says debt interest is crowding out African health and education budgets

The World Bank’s October 2026 Africa Economic Update says interest payments exceed public spending on health and/or education in nearly four-fifths of sub-Saharan African countries, showing how debt service is narrowing fiscal room even where deficits are improving. The report projects the region’s fiscal deficit to fall from 5.6 percent of GDP in 2020 to 3.5 percent in 2026, but says the pressure is increasingly about the cost and structure of debt rather than fresh borrowing alone. Nairametrics ties the regional picture to Nigeria, noting that the country spent about N16 trillion servicing debt in 2025 and N3.14 trillion on domestic debt service in the first quarter of 2026. For Nigerian readers, the numbers explain why higher revenues do not automatically translate into more visible spending on infrastructure and services.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
05.
FinanceNigeria

Sterling completes 1-for-10 share reconstruction

Sterling Financial Holdings has completed a 1-for-10 share reconstruction, cutting its outstanding shares from 68.50 billion to 6.85 billion and resetting the reference price from N7.70 to N77. The Nigerian Exchange delisted the old shares on October 8 and listed the reconstructed shares at the same time. The move does not increase Sterling’s market value: its market capitalisation remained N527.5 billion because the 90 percent reduction in shares was matched by a tenfold price adjustment. The exercise follows a rapid expansion in Sterling’s share base during recapitalisation, including private placement, rights issue and public offer activity. For shareholders, the main change is presentation and trading structure; per-share figures become cleaner and more comparable, but future value still depends on earnings, dividends, valuation and demand.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
06.
FintechLagos, Nigeria

TAP says Cowry processes N3bn monthly in Lagos transport fares

Touch and Pay Technologies says its Cowry platform now processes an average of N3 billion in Lagos public transport fares every month, up 60 percent from two years ago. In an interview, co-founder and CEO Afolabi Olamide said Cowry handles more than 500,000 passenger trips daily and serves about 2 million unique commuters across Lagos’s regulated transport network. The platform is used on regulated buses and the Blue and Red rail lines, with buses contributing over 5 million passenger trips monthly, the Blue Line about 500,000 and the Red Line about 100,000. The data also shows peak movement between 6am and 8am and between 4pm and 6pm. For Lagos, electronic fares are not just convenience; they improve reconciliation, reduce leakage and give planners clearer demand data.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
07.
FinanceNigeria / Ghana / United Kingdom

Zenith’s foreign subsidiaries post N166bn pre-tax profit in H1

Zenith Bank’s non-Nigerian subsidiaries recorded N166.09 billion in combined profit before tax in the first half of 2026, equal to 49.85 percent of the N331.77 billion they posted for the whole of 2025. The operations in Ghana, the UK, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire generated N359.57 billion in operating income and held N8.50 trillion in assets. Ghana led earnings with N106.87 billion in pre-tax profit, while Zenith Bank UK remained the largest offshore operation by balance sheet, with N4.27 trillion in assets. The group also consolidated newly acquired Paramount Bank Kenya and began operations in Côte d’Ivoire. For Nigerian banking investors, the figures show how cross-border businesses are contributing materially to group earnings beyond the domestic market.

Read at Nairametrics ↗

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