Category: Business Day

Cabo Verde has long stood out among African states for its political stability, but recent developments raise a different question for investors: how predictable is the state as a contractual counterparty? Cabo Verde, an archipelago of about half a million people off the coast of Senegal, has changed government peacefully since multiparty rule began in 1991. It has done so again this year. In parliamentary elections on May 17th the African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAICV) defeated the Movement for Democracy (MpD), which had governed for a decade. Francisco Carvalho, the PAICV’s leader and until then mayor of Praia, the capital, was sworn in as prime minister on June 19th. The final count gave his party

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to cut the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by a massive 350 basis points to 23 percent from 26.5 percent is expected to shift investor interest from fixed-income securities to equities as yields decline.

Ayokunle Olubunmi, head of Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto and Co., said the sharp reduction in the benchmark rate is expected to drive down fixed-income yields, creating conditions that could support a rally in the equity market.

‘We expect a decline in fixed income yields but this will support the rally in the equity market,’ Olubunmi said.

The rate cut represents a major recalibration of monetary policy after a prolonged period of tight monetary conditions.

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) described the 350-basis-point reduction as a significant shift away from the restrictive monetary policy regime and a rebalancing towards growth, investment and economic recovery.

The CPPE said the adjustment could alter the relative attractiveness of financial assets as investors respond to changes in yields across the fixed-income and equity markets.

The reduction also comes against a backdrop of easing inflation. Headline inflation stood at 15.39 percent in August 2026, while prevailing money-market rates had been around 20 percent, creating a significant gap with the previous 26.5 percent MPR.

According to the CPPE, the disparity had weakened the signalling function of the policy rate and raised concerns about the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. It therefore viewed the reduction to 23 percent as a realignment of the policy rate with prevailing macroeconomic and financial-market conditions.

The potential shift in investor allocation could be reinforced by lower returns on government securities as the impact of the rate cut filters through the fixed-income market.

The CPPE said a sustained moderation in interest rates could also reduce the marginal cost of government borrowing and, over time, moderate the Federal Government’s domestic debt-service burden.

However, the organisation noted that the fiscal benefit would depend on the extent to which the MPR adjustment translates into lower yields across the government securities market.

Rate cut not automatically translate into cheaper loans

For businesses, the rate cut could also reduce financing costs and improve access to credit, although both the CPPE and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) cautioned that the reduction in the policy rate would not automatically translate into cheaper loans.

NECA said the retention of the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) at 45 percent for Deposit Money Banks indicates that monetary conditions remain relatively tight.

Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, director-general of NECA, said the rate reduction could support lower lending rates and improve access to working capital and investment financing, particularly for manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises.

However, he said the speed and extent of the transmission would depend on how banks adjust their lending rates.

The CPPE similarly said the ultimate economic value of the rate decision would depend on effective transmission, with banks expected to progressively adjust lending rates on new and existing facilities.

The revised interest-rate corridor could also influence liquidity conditions. The CBN adjusted the corridor around the MPR to +50/-300 basis points from +50/-450 basis points, placing the Standing Lending Facility at 23.5 percent and the Standing Deposit Facility at 20 percent.

NECA said the revised corridor could support improved liquidity management and monetary policy transmission.

Despite the potential benefits to equities and the wider economy, the sharp rate reduction also creates risks for portfolio flows and the foreign-exchange market.

The CPPE said the divergence between Nigeria’s monetary policy direction and tightening by some major central banks could affect interest-rate differentials and the relative attractiveness of naira-denominated financial assets.

This could increase the risk of portfolio-flow reversals and renewed pressure on the foreign-exchange market.

However, the CPPE said Nigeria was entering the policy transition with stronger external buffers than in previous episodes of monetary easing, citing improved foreign reserves and greater stability in the foreign-exchange market.

It urged the CBN to remain vigilant and use instruments such as open-market operations where necessary to manage excessive volatility and preserve exchange-rate stability.

The CPPE also cautioned that lower interest rates alone would not guarantee a sustained economic recovery, noting that structural factors including energy costs, logistics bottlenecks, insecurity, food-production constraints, infrastructure deficits and regulatory costs continue to weigh on businesses.

For investors, the key question following the 350-basis-point reset will therefore be how quickly the decline in policy and fixed-income yields feeds into asset allocation, while for businesses and households, attention will centre on whether lower monetary-policy rates translate into meaningful reductions in borrowing costs.

MTN Group Foundation and the Gates Foundation have unveiled a $25 million AI-enabled maternal health initiative in Nigeria aimed at improving access to quality maternal health care and reducing high burden of maternal mortality in Nigeria.

The first-of-its-kind Maternal Health

Multiplier platform aims to expand access to AI-enabled maternal health care in Nigeria targeting 500,000 women in Nigeria by 2030

The MTN Group Foundation (MTN) and the Gates Foundation announced the four-year partnership Tuesday at Semafor’s Next 3 Billion event, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

According to a statement from the Gates Foundation, the partnership begins with an initial investment of approximately US$25 million between 2026 and 2030, including direct and in-kind contributions from the Gates Foundation and MTN. This anchor

investment is intended to catalyse additional funding and support future expansion intoother markets over time.

The initiative aims to improve maternal health outcomes through an integrated digital ecosystem that connects women, frontline health workers, and primary health care facilities. It also aims to equip 5,000 frontline health workers with tools to identify complications from pregnancy and childbirth early, and enable 500 health facilities to deliver more consistent, higher-quality maternal health care.

The Gates Foundation, noted that the world has made real progress on maternal survival, cutting deaths by 40% since 2000, but added that the progress has stalled, and where a woman lives still shapes whether she survives childbirth with sub-Saharan Africa bearing 250 times more risk than in Western Europe.

It disclosed that Nigeria has made real progress in reducing maternal deaths over the past decade, but a large burden remains to be addressed, noting that the country accounts for nearly 30% of all maternal deaths worldwide.

‘ While Many of these deaths are preventable, but with only 59% of women completing four or more antenatal care visits, warning signs often go undetected until it’s too late’, the statement read.

‘Both the scale of that challenge and the urgency it represents are why Nigeria was selected as the first market for implementation of the Maternal Health Multiplier’, it added.

Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy revealed that the biggest barrier to improving service delivery in Nigeria, whether in health, agriculture, or education, has not been a lack of innovations, but a lack of focus on the foundational systems necessary to drive adoption.

‘Partnerships like this reflect the kind of collaboration we want to see more of in Nigeria, one that puts the country’s digital transformation to work for the people who need it most,’ he said.

According to Muhammad Pate, Nigeria’s

coordinating minister of health and social welfare, strengthening primary healthcare and empowering the frontline health workers who deliver it are core to health sector reforms.

‘Partnerships that work with our existing health systems, rather than around them, are exactly what’s needed to reach mothers who are still falling through the cracks. We welcome this collaboration and look forward to it strengthening the work already underway,’ Pate said.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group president and CEO opined that the future of maternal health depends on ensuring that every mother, regardless of where she lives, can access the support she needs to make informed decisions throughout her journey.

‘As artificial intelligence evolves, we can put trusted, locally relevant health insights directly into the hands of mothers and healthcare professionals, tailored to their unique needs and languages. Starting in Nigeria, our ambition is to demonstrate a scalable model for improving maternal and child health outcomes across Africa. The true value of innovation lies in its ability to improve lives and create better futures for generations to come,’ he added.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation noted that AI has enormous potential to improve health, but only if its benefits reach the people who stand to gain the most.

‘ That’s where philanthropy has a role to play: not as a substitute for investment, but as a catalyst for it. Programs like the Maternal Health Multiplier are creating AI tools for and putting them into the hands of Nigerian mothers and frontline health workers, helping keep moms and their babies healthy,’ Suzman said.

The Maternal Health Multiplier is designed to be affordable, reliable, and consistent, and it builds on Nigeria’s flagship Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), which is being deployed by the Federal Ministry of Health under its Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp).

Micheal Oluwole (‘the Plaintiff’) commenced the action on 8 March 2024 by a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against Mrs. Osinachi Joseph Egbu, popularly known as Sinach (‘the Defendant’), in respect of the musical work titled Way Maker.

The dispute arose from the Plaintiff’s involvement in the recording and production of Way Maker. In the course of the engagement, the Plaintiff worked as a studio engineer and provided recording, mixing and mastering services. He also worked on the melodies and parts of several musical instruments used as accompaniments to the Defendant’s vocals in the recorded version of the song.

Before the Plaintiff’s involvement, the Defendant had written and composed Way Maker and had performed it in South Africa. She later engaged the Plaintiff to work on the existing song and to provide sound production, mixing and mastering services in connection with its development and recording. The parties did not execute a written agreement setting out the terms of the engagement or their respective interests in the work. The engagement was based on an oral arrangement, and payments made to the Plaintiff through Slic Inspire Limited included ?192,000 on 20 October 2015 and ?448,000 on 10 December 2015.

A disagreement subsequently arose over the nature and extent of the Plaintiff’s contribution to, and rights in, the musical work. The Plaintiff consequently instituted the present action, seeking, amongst other reliefs, declarations that he was an author and co-owner of Way Maker; an equitable division of income derived from the work; disclosure and accounts of licences and assignments relating to the work; ?5 billion in general damages; and an injunction restraining further exploitation of the work.

One of the issues for determination was: Whether this Honourable Court can make a determination on whether the Plaintiff is the author, writer, composer, creator, co-owner and performer of the musical instruments in the musical work/song, ‘Way Maker’.

ARGUMENTS

Learned counsel for the Plaintiff submitted that the Plaintiff’s contribution to Way Maker was creative and not merely technical. Counsel argued that the Plaintiff composed the melodies and instrumental parts accompanying the Defendant’s vocals and thereby contributed original expression to the musical work. It was submitted that the persons who created a musical work are its authors and copyright owners and that, where different persons have interests in the various copyrights comprising a composite production, they are deemed co-owners. Counsel therefore contended that Way Maker, being a composite production comprising the respective contributions of the Plaintiff and the Defendant, gave rise to joint authorship and co-ownership.

Learned counsel further submitted that the Plaintiff’s engagement went beyond technical mixing and mastering services because he contributed original musical elements to the finished work. Counsel maintained that the Defendant’s vocals and the Plaintiff’s melodies and instrumental accompaniments were distinct but inseparable elements of the musical work and that each party therefore held an interest in the copyright arising from his or her contribution.

Counsel also argued that payment for the Plaintiff’s services did not, without more, extinguish or transfer the copyright in his creative contribution. There was no written agreement assigning his interest to the Defendant, limiting his role to that of a mixing and mastering engineer, or providing that the payments constituted full and final settlement of his proprietary rights. Counsel therefore maintained that the Plaintiff retained copyright in his contribution and was entitled to recognition as a co-author and co-owner, together with a corresponding share of the royalties and income derived from the exploitation of Way Maker.

In response, learned Senior Counsel for the Defendant submitted that the Plaintiff failed to establish that he was an author or co-owner of Way Maker. Counsel argued that the Defendant had written, composed, arranged and performed the song before engaging the Plaintiff, including at an earlier performance in South Africa. The Plaintiff was subsequently retained to provide sound production, mixing and mastering services and to assist in developing the existing song into an album. Such involvement, counsel submitted, did not confer authorship or co-ownership of the underlying musical work.

Learned Senior Counsel further relied on the Plaintiff’s admission that the parties had agreed on remuneration for his services and that he had been paid. He argued that the payments of ?192,000.00 and ?448,000.00 were consistent with an engagement for services and not with any agreement for co-ownership. He also submitted that, because the Plaintiff sought declaratory reliefs, he had to establish authorship on the strength of his own evidence. His failure to place Way Maker before the Court meant that the Court could not identify or assess the original musical elements allegedly created by him. Counsel therefore urged the Court to hold that the Plaintiff had not proved authorship or co-ownership of the work.

DECISION OF THE COURT

In resolving the issue, the Federal High Court held that:

Not every person involved in the creation of a recording is necessarily an author. A producer, engineer, session musician or sound technician may contribute materially to the finished product without becoming an author unless they create original expressive content. Authorship resides in the original creative mind responsible for the intellectual creation.

The Federal High Court explained that an author is the natural person who creates the intellectual property embodied in a musical work, including its melody, harmony, lyrics or arrangement. Copyright vests in the author from the moment of creation, without the need for registration or formal notice, and confers exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform and license the work. A musician who, as a composer, creates an original work through his ingenuity acquires an intellectual interest in that work which ranks pari passu with other proprietary rights.

In the instant case, the Court found that Way Maker was originally created by the Defendant, who had performed the song in South Africa with persons other than the Plaintiff before engaging him. The Plaintiff’s role was limited to producing the existing song as a musical work for an agreed fee, which he was paid. Accordingly, the Court held that the Plaintiff could not sustain his claim to authorship of Way Maker and described the claim as ‘gold-digging and unmeritorious.’

Issue resolved in favour of the Defendant.

Matthew Enilolobo for the Plaintiff.

Emeka Etiaba SAN with Omolola Aderolu and O. G. Ofomata for the Defendant.

This summary is fully reported at (2026) 9 CLRN in association with ALP NG and Co.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has cleared six marketers to import a combined 830,000 metric tonnes of petrol in the fourth quarter, extending a permit structure that has run since the start of the year even as the Dangote refinery ramps up domestic supply.

The midstream regulator issued the approvals, retaining the same roster of beneficiaries used in the previous allocation round, including Matrix Energy, AA Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Bono Energy, according to information gathered by Petroleumprice.ng.

The allocation marks the fourth consecutive quarterly increase this year. The six companies split 180,000 tonnes in the first quarter, before the window widened to 720,000 tonnes in the second and topped 800,000 tonnes in the third. The latest figure pushes the annual total further, even as the regulator’s own data show imports playing a shrinking role in the country’s overall fuel supply.

‘The permit structure hasn’t really changed shape all year, same six names, just bigger numbers each quarter,’ said a downstream sector source who tracks the allocations. ‘What’s notable is that it’s growing at exactly the moment local refining is supposed to be taking over.’

NMDPRA figures cited in industry reports show domestic refineries covered roughly 76.7 percent of petrol supply in the first quarter, while imports dropped about 60 percent year-on-year to near 965.5 million litres over the same period, a trajectory that has continued to favor local output.

The timing puts the approvals squarely inside an ongoing legal fight.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has asked the Federal High Court to void import licences it argues are unnecessary given domestic capacity, with the case due back in court on October 7. The refinery’s position is that continued import permits undercut a facility built specifically to end Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel.

‘There’s a structural tension here that the court case is really just making explicit,’ said an industry analyst who advises marketers on regulatory strategy. ‘You have a regulator that wants to keep a supply buffer in place, and a refiner that thinks the buffer is now redundant and just adds cost to the system.’

Adding to the friction, Dangote has narrowed direct sales of its petroleum products to the Lagos market, according to industry information reviewed by Petroleumprice.ng – a move that leaves marketers outside that corridor more reliant on alternative sources, including the regulated import channel NMDPRA has kept open.

‘If offtake from the refinery is geographically constrained, importers aren’t really competing with Dangote so much as filling gaps it isn’t currently serving,’ the analyst said. ‘That’s a different argument than simply saying imports are unnecessary.’

The Federal Government’s plan to provide five million students with 100 megabytes (MB) of free mobile data daily is facing concerns over network capacity, the adequacy of the allocation, funding, monitoring, and whether the intervention can deliver meaningful educational outcomes.

The initiative, scheduled to commence on October 1, 2026, will provide students in public senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions with zero-rated access to approved educational websites and digital learning platforms.

The programme, being implemented by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Federal Ministry of Education, is estimated to cost about N15 billion monthly, or N180 billion annually, based on an estimated N100 daily allocation per beneficiary.

While experts welcomed the intervention as a potentially important step toward reducing the cost of digital learning, they said its effectiveness would depend largely on how access is controlled, the capacity of telecommunications networks, the accuracy of student records, funding arrangements and the government’s ability to monitor usage.

Olujimi Dada, chairperson of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), LAUTECH chapter, said the data allocation should be specifically targeted at educational content to prevent students from diverting the benefit to social media and other non-academic activities.

‘If the government is going to do such a thing, it should be streamlined so that there is a way of doing it,’ Dada said.

He suggested that the government establish or partner with repositories containing course materials and other approved educational resources, with the free data configured to work only on such platforms.

According to him, restricting the allocation to approved educational websites would make the intervention more meaningful and ensure that public funds allocated to the programme achieve their intended purpose.

‘People should be able to do TikTok and Snapchat and whatever, but if there is a way they can streamline the usage, that could be my contribution to the topic,’ he said.

Dada also questioned whether 100MB would be sufficient for students who need to download assignments and other learning materials, noting that the government should consider how the allowance would work in practice.

The concerns come as the government and telecommunications operators seek to balance the scale of the intervention with the capacity of mobile networks to accommodate additional traffic.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON, said the 100MB daily threshold was arrived at after an industry assessment of the number of potential beneficiaries, network capacity and the need to prevent the intervention from affecting commercial services.

He said an industry working committee was constituted to assess the feasibility of the programme, including the number of beneficiaries and the amount of data that could be sustainably provided.

‘We came up with this minimum threshold of saying, if we allocate 100 megabytes per subscriber per day, given the number of people who are in that age bracket who will be needing that intervention, what will it be that will not impact on our ability to deliver good quality commercial services?’ Adebayo said.

According to him, the industry could provide a higher allocation, but existing network capacity would make a much larger daily allowance difficult to sustain without affecting service quality.

Adebayo said the 100MB allocation translates to about 3GB per month and should be sufficient for the intended educational activities, which he said generally consume less data than video streaming, gaming and other entertainment services.

‘From analysis, this will do about an average of two to one and a half hours of learning a day,’ he said.

He explained that the programme is not designed to support full qualification courses but to assist students with activities such as reviewing assignments and searching for additional educational information.

Adebayo also said the free data would be restricted to approved educational websites, meaning beneficiaries would not be able to use the allocation for streaming, gaming or unrelated online activities.

The NCC said the commission and the Ministry of Education would jointly approve platforms to be whitelisted under the initiative.

Ayuba Shuaibu, director of policy, competition and economic analysis at the NCC, said eligible platforms would include learning management systems, digital libraries, educational repositories, teacher development platforms, and technical and vocational training platforms.

‘The framework also adopts the operator’s consult model for the initial rollout of the initiative. Under this model, a daily zero-rated data allowance of 100 MB will be provided by the participating MNOs for usage on approved websites and platforms,’ Shuaibu said.

Tunji Alausa, minister of education, had said the initiative was designed to address the cost of internet access, which remains a barrier to digital learning, particularly for students from low-income households.

He said the government’s ambition was for no Nigerian learner to be denied access to quality educational content because of an inability to afford data.

The scheme will initially cover students in public senior secondary schools and public tertiary institutions, with plans to extend the intervention to other categories of learners.

Adesina Sodiya, professor of computer science and immediate past president of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), described the initiative as good and commendable but warned that the 100MB daily allocation could be too small to have a meaningful impact on students’ academic activities.

He also raised concerns that increased data consumption could put additional pressure on telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in areas with large concentrations of students.

‘I would also advise that instead of doing it monthly, I mean, it is better to put all these things together and do it monthly, so that the students can plan and utilize this data for something that is meaningful to their programme,’ Sodiya said.

According to him, a monthly allocation would give students greater flexibility to determine how and when to deploy the data, rather than being compelled to use a relatively small daily allowance.

‘100 megs in a day is actually nothing. By the time they open the document and so on and so forth, it’s gone,’ he said.

Sodiya said students often have to make difficult choices about internet usage because of the cost of data, with some unable to access academic materials or participate in online activities when they run out of data.

‘Sometimes I will send messages to them. They will tell you that I didn’t have data to read the details. They buy data when they need to do something,’ he said.

He noted that access to affordable data had become particularly important as universities and students increasingly rely on digital resources and online learning.

‘Access to data for students in tertiary institutions is actually a good thing,’ Sodiya said, adding that some universities already provide internet access within their campuses, although students still face difficulties when they leave campus.

He therefore described the proposed government intervention as commendable, saying it could help bridge part of the digital access gap confronting students.

‘It is actually supported. Although it is small, I mean, it is a good way to start with,’ he said.

Sodiya, however, warned that the intervention could add pressure to an already strained telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in student-dominated areas.

‘The network is really a major [issue]. And again, the student area is really congested,’ he said.

He said the government would need to consider how increased data consumption by students would affect telecommunications networks and address existing infrastructure challenges alongside the programme.

‘What are they doing? How are they going to get the telcos to enhance, to improve on their current infrastructure so that this programme will also be [effective]? That is also another area that government should look at,’ he said.

Sodiya also called for greater clarity on how the initiative would be funded and sustained.

While he could not confirm the funding structure, he said collaboration with telecommunications companies would be a more sustainable approach than placing the entire financial burden on government.

‘I’m thinking maybe the government has been able to get the telcos to also make contributions to the development of education in Nigeria,’ he said.

He warned that financing the initiative entirely from government resources could create a significant additional expenditure, particularly given the size of Nigeria’s tertiary student population.

‘If the telcos will be charging the money they are supposed to be charging daily, it’s actually going to be a lot of money,’ he said.

The professor stressed that important details of the programme remained unclear, including how the government intends to implement and sustain it after its proposed commencement.

‘I mean, we still see their implementation plan. We have not seen the implementation. They have not said they want to start the programme,’ he said.

Sodiya said that although the government had indicated that the programme would begin on October 1, stakeholders were still waiting for further information on how it would work in practice.

Another concern raised by Sodiya is whether the government has an accurate and current database of students who are actually enrolled in tertiary institutions.

He acknowledged that admission records may be available through relevant systems covering universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and other tertiary institutions.

But he questioned whether those records accurately reflect students who remain enrolled.

‘Are they still in those institutions? We have information that some of them have also travelled. Some of them have failed out of the university or polytechnic and so on and so forth. We still don’t know how they are going to implement it,’ he said.

He said this would be an important issue for the government to resolve before the programme is fully implemented.

Sodiya also called for a mechanism to monitor how students use the data allocation to ensure that the intervention achieves its intended educational purpose.

He suggested that the government create a system to monitor usage and assess whether the initiative is delivering value.

‘This is a way to also monitor and ensure that this initiative from government is actually utilised the way it is supposed to be utilised,’ he said.

He also questioned the precise rules governing the allocation, including whether unused daily data would roll over to the following day or expire.

‘We don’t even know that whether if you don’t use it in a day, it should be activated for you the next day,’ he said.

He also questioned whether the government would restrict the use of the data to particular periods of the day.

‘We don’t know whether this data is going to be timed to a particular period and so on and so forth,’ he said.

On whether the timing of the policy could be politically motivated, Sodiya said the circumstances surrounding an initiative should not overshadow its potential benefits to students.

‘Whether it is done because of politics or not, when an election is coming, anything can come up. But what is important to us is that it is something that is good for these students in school,’ he said.

Airtel Money will disclose the indicative price range and number of shares for its planned London initial public offering in early October, moving the mobile money business closer to what could become one of the largest listings on the UK market this year.

The announcement is the clearest timetable yet for the flotation after Airtel Money delayed its original first-half 2026 listing plans in May amid unfavourable market conditions. The company said on Wednesday that it intends to file for the London IPO.

The planned disclosure of the price range will give investors their first formal indication of how Airtel Money intends to price the offering and how much of the business it plans to put into public hands.

Airtel Money is targeting a valuation of between $8 billion and $9 billion and plans to raise at least $800 million from investors. The figures were attributed to two people briefed on the plans.

If achieved, the valuation would place the African mobile payments business among the more significant new listings London has seen in recent years.

Airtel Money operates through agents, branches and kiosks across Africa, allowing customers to deposit, withdraw and transfer money through mobile accounts. The business has more than 56 million customers and generated $1.36 billion in revenue in its last full financial year.

London gets another major IPO

The proposed flotation comes as London continues to struggle to attract large companies to its public markets.

Only seven UK listings had raised £577.2 million in 2026 as of September 22, compared with 23 London IPOs that raised £2.3 billion throughout 2025, according to available data.

Airtel Money’s planned offering could therefore provide a significant injection of new equity issuance into a market that has seen several major companies postpone listings.

The company had initially targeted the first half of 2026 but pushed the timetable into the second half in May, citing market conditions linked to the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Airtel Money had also been considering the Middle East as a potential listing destination, but the company ultimately chose London, with geopolitical tensions in the region among factors influencing the decision.

The decision also builds on the experience of its parent company, Airtel Africa, which listed in London in 2019. Airtel Africa’s shares have risen about 300 percent from their IPO price.

What investors will watch

The October disclosure will be important because the indicative price range will translate the much-discussed $8 billion-$9 billion valuation target into a proposed share price and offer structure.

Investors will also be able to assess the number of shares being offered and, by extension, the portion of Airtel Money being made available to public investors.

The size of Airtel Africa’s remaining ownership will depend on the final structure of the transaction. The parent company currently owns about 78 percent of Airtel Money, while its post-IPO stake has not yet been determined.

The timing also follows a report earlier this month that Airtel Money was considering reducing the size of its London IPO ahead of launch, underscoring the importance of investor appetite and market conditions as the company moves towards pricing.

For London, the Airtel Money flotation represents more than another technology listing. Its potential scale means the IPO could become a closely watched test of whether the UK market can attract a large African growth business at a time when companies have increasingly considered overseas listings, private funding or alternative sources of capital.

The next major milestone will come in early October, when Airtel Money is expected to publish the indicative price range and the number of shares to be offered.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has launched an investigation into claims that Nigerians’ National Identification Numbers (NINs) and other personal information were exposed and offered for sale.

The commission, however, denied that its systems had been breached, describing a video circulating on social media alleging the exposure of citizens’ personal data as misleading.

Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communications at NIMC, said in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday that Nigerians had no reason to panic over the claims.

‘NIMC wishes to assure Nigerians that their data is safe and secure and there is no need for panic,’ Adegoke said.

He said the commission had measures in place to protect NINs and other personal information contained in the National Identity Database.

‘Our systems are protected and the commission remains committed to ensuring the safety and security of citizens’ identity information,’ he said.

Adegoke urged Nigerians to disregard unverified information capable of creating concerns over the security of their identity information. He also advised citizens to use only approved channels for NIN verification and other identity-related services.

The commission said its Director-General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, had directed a comprehensive investigation into the claims.

According to Coker-Odusote, the investigation will establish whether any of NIMC’s tokenisation verification agents breached their licensing agreements, either directly or through sub-licensees.

‘NIMC will continue to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the identity information entrusted to the commission is properly protected,’ she said.

The development comes amid growing concerns over the handling and protection of personal data as digital identity and verification services become increasingly important to financial, telecommunications and other transactions in Nigeria.

NIMC said it remained committed to strengthening data protection and privacy measures and preventing unauthorised access to citizens’ identity information.

Nigeria’s new fiscal-monetary policy agreement will have to deliver more than closer cooperation between the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). BusinessDay analysis identifies four indicators that could provide a practical framework for assessing whether the pact is translating into better economic outcomes: bank lending rates moving towards 15 percent, the monetary policy rate falling towards 12 percent, inflation reaching about 10 percent and external reserves rising towards $75 billion. These are analytical benchmarks, not official targets contained in the September 18 memorandum of understanding (MoU). They provide a framework for assessing whether closer fiscal-monetary coordination is translating into lower financing costs, sustained disinflation and stronger external buffers. The starting point has already shifted.

South Africa’s annual inflation rate rose to 4.4 percent in August from 4.3 percent in July, reversing its first decline in five months, although the increase was smaller than economists had expected.

Data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday that headline inflation came in below the 4.5 percent forecast. On a monthly basis, consumer prices were unchanged in August after rising 0.2 percent in July.

Transport remained the biggest source of upward pressure, with prices rising 8.8 percent year on year in August, only slightly slower than the 8.9 percent increase recorded in July. Petrol prices fell 2 percent between July and August, while diesel prices increased 3.1 percent.

Food inflation also picked up, rising to 1.1 percent from 0.9 percent in July. The increase marked the first acceleration in food price inflation in nine months.

The rise in headline inflation was partly offset by a moderation in underlying price pressures. Core inflation, which excludes food, non alcoholic beverages, fuel and energy, eased to 4.1 percent in August from 4.2 percent in July, when it reached a two year high.

The core reading was also slightly below the 4.2 percent economists had expected.

Housing and utilities remain the largest component of South Africa’s consumer price index, accounting for about 23 percent of the basket, followed by food and non alcoholic beverages at 19 percent and transport at 15 percent.

The August figures come as the South African Reserve Bank weighs its next interest rate decision, with inflation remaining above the central bank’s 3% target.

The modest increase in headline inflation, combined with the easing in core inflation, gives a mixed picture of price pressures as policymakers assess whether higher energy and transport costs could keep inflation elevated.

For households, transport and food prices remain key areas to watch, given their importance in consumer spending and the latest increase in both categories.