Dr. Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group), has called on East African institutional investors to tap into Nigeria’s capital market and participate in the landmark Dangote Refinery Initial Public Offering (IPO).
In a statement on Tuesday, Kwairanga made the call on Tuesday during an investor engagement session hosted in partnership with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in Kenya.
Addressing a gathering of Kenyan and East African institutional investors, Kwairanga urged fund managers to commit capital to the upcoming public offer, highlighting it as a strategic opportunity to support indigenous industrial development while achieving sustainable financial returns.
He noted that the Dangote Refinery IPO provides a transformative bridge to link institutional capital across African sub-regions with one of the continent’s largest private-sector assets, deepening intra-African investment channels.
“Today’s engagement is particularly significant because it brings together two important dimensions of our capital markets: cross-border investment and greater access,” Kwairanga said. “I invite our East African investors to key into this vision and give leaders like this the capital and support to take Africa higher.”
Kwairanga highlighted Nigeria and Kenya as leading economic hubs in West and East Africa, both possessing sophisticated financial ecosystems and mature institutional investor bases. He emphasized that the future of African capital market expansion relies on how seamlessly regional exchanges collaborate to facilitate cross-border capital flows.
“For us, therefore, this engagement is not simply about one transaction. It is about building stronger bridges between African markets and African capital,” he added, reassuring investors that modern digital market infrastructure and trading technology have made participating in Nigerian public offers seamless for international buyers.
The NGX Chairman commended Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Dangote Group for selecting the Nigerian capital market to democratize equity ownership in the mega-refinery, describing the planned listing as an iconic milestone in Nigeria’s industrial growth trajectory.
He expressed gratitude to the Nairobi Securities Exchange for facilitating the bilateral forum, expressing optimism that the session would pave the way for sustained investment partnerships and deeper capital integration between the financial communities of Nigeria and Kenya.
