A formal announcement is expected soon, in what could become one of the most significant technology-related listings in the history of Nigeria’s capital market.
The proposed listing would give Nigerian investors an opportunity to participate directly in the growth of a company whose operations and revenues are heavily anchored in the Nigerian market.
The reported NGX plan comes as OPay simultaneously prepares for a potential initial public offering in the United States, targeting a valuation of about $4 billion. Bloomberg reported in May that the fintech had engaged Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase to advise on the proposed US IPO. It is not yet clear whether the Nigerian listing would occur alongside the US offering or later as part of a dual-listing structure. OPay has not confirmed the development, while its spokesperson declined to comment.
The scale of OPay’s recent financial performance helps explain the significance of the potential transaction. An investment document previously reviewed by Nairametrics showed that OPay’s gross transaction value rose to $358 billion in 2025 from $166.2 billion in 2024, representing growth of 115 percent. Revenue climbed 161 percent to $536.3 million, while operating income swung from a $35.1 million loss in 2024 to $107.1 million in 2025. Nigeria accounted for 88.1 percent of the company’s revenue during the year.
Beyond OPay itself, a domestic listing would carry wider implications for Nigeria’s capital market and technology ecosystem. For years, there has been concern that some of Africa’s fastest-growing technology companies build significant businesses in Nigeria but ultimately seek their deepest pools of capital abroad, limiting the participation of Nigerian investors in the wealth created locally. A successful OPay listing on the NGX could begin to reverse that pattern by demonstrating that Nigeria’s capital market can accommodate large, technology-driven businesses.
The development also comes against the backdrop of calls by NGX Group CEO Temi Popoola for policies that encourage major companies generating substantial revenues in Nigeria to list locally. Popoola had specifically cited OPay and PalmPay as examples of companies whose domestic listings could allow Nigerian investors to share more directly in their growth. For the NGX, attracting a company of OPay’s size and profile would strengthen the exchange’s technology credentials, broaden its investor base and potentially encourage other high growth African companies to consider Nigeria when raising capital.
For now, the proposed listing remains a developing story, with crucial questions over valuation, timing, offer size, shareholding structure and the relationship between any NGX offering and the planned US IPO still unanswered. But if formally confirmed, OPay’s arrival on the NGX would be more than another corporate listing: it could become a test of whether Nigeria can retain a greater share of the investment value generated by its rapidly expanding digital economy and whether its capital market is ready to finance the next generation of African technology giants.
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