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SEVEN STORIES. EVERY MORNING AT SEVEN.

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The morning seven today looks at NNPC’s listing preparations, Nigeria’s $78.5 billion project pitch, new SME credit risk-sharing, and the local infrastructure behind identity and payments.

15 October 20267 a.m. WAT~5 min read
THE MORNING SEVEN, READ TO YOUAI-narrated · 8 min listen
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The morning seven

01.
FinanceNigeriaTHE BIG PICTURE

NNPC moves IPO work to governance and reporting fixes

NNPC Ltd. is pushing ahead with preparations for a possible initial public offering, with group chief executive Bayo Ojulari saying the company has completed a baseline readiness assessment and is now fixing gaps in financial reporting and corporate governance. The process is still conditional: NNPC has no fixed listing date, and its broad structure across exploration, pipelines, refining, trading and retail may require decisions on which units to list, combine or exit. Ojulari also said the company is reviewing joint-venture stakes, including a possible sale of up to 30% in some ventures, with decisions possible in early 2027. For Nigerian investors and policymakers, the story is less about an imminent share sale than about whether the state oil company can meet public-market standards while profits are down 35.4% year-on-year to ₦2.28 trillion in H1 2026.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
02.
PolicyBangkok, Thailand / Nigeria

Nigeria pitches $78.5 billion project pipeline to investors

Nigeria presented 65 projects requiring a combined $78.5 billion at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, using a dedicated deal room to connect investors with project details and government contacts. The portfolio spans oil, gas and power, transport and maritime infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, technology, healthcare and urban services. Named projects include a $1.7 billion crude oil evacuation and midstream platform, a $1.29 billion Lagos Greenline Railway, a $2.69 billion fertiliser project and a $355.6 million flare-gas AI data centre. The government estimates the projects could create 366,763 jobs, but these are investment targets rather than committed capital. For Nigerian businesses, the practical question is whether the deal room and promised reforms can turn a long project list into bankable transactions with clear approvals, pricing and risk allocation.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
03.
FinanceNigeria

Cascador and Sterling launch SME credit backstop

Cascador and Sterling Bank launched a $200 million credit backstop fund intended to help Nigerian SMEs obtain larger and longer-tenor loans by sharing part of the loss risk with lenders. The structure is designed to support up to $1 billion in outstanding credit capacity when fully funded, with eligible businesses initially able to seek local-currency loans equivalent to $250,000, subject to lender approval. It is not an automatic lending window: ecosystem partners such as venture funds and studios will nominate businesses, the platform will assess readiness and risk, and banks will still approve, disburse and collect loans. For founders and growing companies, the fund targets a familiar bottleneck: businesses with revenue and customers but insufficient collateral or guarantees to secure bank debt on terms that match their cash flows.

Read at BusinessDay ↗
04.
InfrastructureNigeria

NIMC says national identity database is locally hosted

The National Identity Management Commission said its core identity database is hosted entirely in Nigeria, managed by NIMC employees and not kept on cloud infrastructure, as questions persist over who controls Nigerians’ personal data. Alvan Ikoku, director of NIMC’s Strategic Programme Office, said the commission has disaster recovery systems and that staff handling the database face ongoing scrutiny by security agencies. The assurance matters because 142 million Nigerians had registered for National Identification Numbers as of September 2026, making outages or leaks a public-service risk. Still, the briefing also underlined that local hosting is only one part of data protection: licensed partners and government agencies access identity verification through integrations, and past concerns have centred on verification channels rather than a confirmed breach of the central database.

Read at TechCabal ↗
05.
FintechNigeria

NIBSS confirms open-source base for new payment stack

NIBSS has confirmed that its National Payment Stack, the rail meant to succeed the older NIBSS Instant Payment system, runs on Transactility’s jPTS payment switch built on the open-source jPOS framework. The choice matters because NIBSS handles core Nigerian payment infrastructure, and open-source code access could allow more local customisation than a fully closed vendor system, though it also places more responsibility on NIBSS to test, patch and maintain the platform. The NPS supports ISO 20022 messaging, instant account-to-account transfers, QR payments, bulk payments and payments using identifiers such as phone numbers. Migration is gradual: the article notes NIP and NPS are expected to run side by side while banks and fintechs integrate, so users may not see immediate changes in their apps.

Read at TechPeza ↗
06.
PolicyLagos, Nigeria

Lagos gives telcos 30 days to check betting clients

The Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority gave mobile network operators, including MTN, Airtel, Globacom and T2, plus licensed value-added service providers, 30 days to verify the licensing and tax compliance of gaming businesses using their platforms in the state. The directive requires transaction records, carrier billing data and revenue-sharing information from November 22, 2024, to the public notice date, and tells operators to stop onboarding unlicensed gaming firms or suspend unauthorised services. The regulator also stressed that an NCC telecoms or VAS approval is not a Lagos gaming licence. For telecoms companies and payment intermediaries, this turns betting distribution into a direct compliance exposure, not just a service they carry for third parties.

Read at Nairametrics ↗
07.
FintechNigeria

OPay’s loan book shows the cost of digital credit

OPay’s prospectus numbers show how expensive consumer digital lending can be in Nigeria even when loan volumes are scaling fast. In H1 2026, the fintech generated $236.12 million in loan-financing revenue from $927.6 million in Nigerian loan originations, but set aside $118.36 million for expected credit losses—about $1.28 for every $10 lent. Lending produced just over half of OPay’s total income in the period, and originations more than tripled year-on-year, yet provisions grew faster than lending revenue and consumed 50.2% of loan-financing revenue. The company reported a 4.3% non-performing loan ratio, but its 120-day charge-off policy makes direct comparison with banks difficult. For Nigerian borrowers and regulators, the figures expose the tension between fast app-based credit, default risk, pricing and collection practices.

Read at TechCabal ↗

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