Dr Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), paid a formal visit to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Friday, sitting down with the exchange's board and senior management to explore concrete investment and partnership opportunities.
What Was on the Table
The discussions covered a wide range of potential collaboration areas.
Kwairanga said both markets could explore knowledge sharing and training programmes, product development partnerships, and cross-border listings — with the explicit goal of deepening market integration between Africa and the Middle East.
"This is to strengthen market integration between Africa and the Middle East," he said in a statement to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Nigeria's Market Growth Gets Its Moment
Kwairanga used the Abu Dhabi platform to present Nigeria's capital market in its strongest light.
He noted that both market capitalisation and the benchmark index had more than doubled in recent years — a performance he said reflects renewed and growing investor confidence in Nigeria.
The timing of the visit is deliberate. Nigeria's capital market is operating with real momentum, and the NGX chairman is clearly intent on converting that momentum into foreign capital flows.
The Dangote Refinery IPO — A Continental Pitch
The most headline-grabbing element of the visit was the explicit positioning of the Dangote Refinery IPO as a Middle East investor opportunity.
Kwairanga described the refinery as "a continental project" — one of the largest in the world — and said there is strong interest in attracting Gulf investors to the offering when it launches.
He disclosed that roadshows for the IPO could be held in the UAE, bringing the offering directly to institutional investors in one of the world's most capital-rich regions.
"Hopefully, the refinery, one of the biggest in the world, will consider a dual listing," he said, referencing ongoing discussions about listing in a global financial centre alongside the Nigerian exchange.
A dual listing would be a significant milestone — opening Dangote Refinery shares to international institutional investors who may not typically access Nigerian markets directly.
The Dangote Refinery has already reshaped Nigeria's energy economics. In April, it became the world's largest jet fuel exporter — a detail that makes the IPO pitch to Gulf investors considerably easier. For more on the refinery's trajectory, see our coverage of Dangote Refinery's rise as a global jet fuel exporter.
Federal Government Reforms as the Backdrop
Kwairanga did not limit his pitch to the private sector.
He attributed part of Nigeria's rising investor appeal to the ongoing Federal Government economic reforms under President Bola Tinubu. He recalled the President's earlier engagement with Abu Dhabi investors, saying that groundwork is now producing results at the institutional level.
The political context matters. Gulf sovereign wealth funds and family offices are sophisticated investors who track policy stability closely. Kwairanga's framing positions Nigeria's reform agenda as a credibility signal — not just domestic politics.
The African Exchanges Linkage Project
Beyond the bilateral Nigeria-UAE angle, Kwairanga also highlighted NGX's role in the African Exchanges Linkage Project — an initiative that connects African exchanges to promote intra-African trading.
He said the project will expand investment opportunities across the continent's capital markets, and expressed optimism that talks with ADX could unlock fresh collaboration under that broader framework.
He specifically flagged Tabadul — ADX's electronic trading platform — as a potential area for cooperation, signalling that the ambition goes beyond dialogue into actual infrastructure integration.
| Area of Cooperation | Details |
|---|---|
| Knowledge Sharing | Training programmes between NGX and ADX |
| Product Development | Joint financial product creation |
| Cross-Border Listings | Companies listing on both exchanges |
| Dangote Refinery IPO | Roadshows planned for UAE; dual listing under discussion |
| African Exchanges Linkage | Intra-African trading connectivity |
| Tabadul Platform | Potential technology and trading cooperation |
The UAE's Resilience Acknowledged
Kwairanga also took time to commend the UAE economy and capital market for their resilience — specifically noting stability in the face of geopolitical tensions affecting parts of the broader region.
He attributed the UAE's strength to the strong foundations laid by its leadership, a diplomatic nod that is standard in cross-border investor relations but also carries practical weight when you are asking a country's investors to place capital in a neighbouring continent.
Why This Visit Matters
Capital market partnerships between Africa and the Gulf are not new. But they have rarely been pursued with this level of specificity.
Kwairanga arrived in Abu Dhabi with a concrete agenda: the Dangote IPO, dual listings, exchange-to-exchange infrastructure, and a reform story backed by presidential engagement. That is a more structured pitch than most Nigerian delegations have made in recent years.
For investors watching African capital markets, the signals coming out of NGX are worth tracking. The exchange is not positioning itself as an emerging market curiosity — it is positioning itself as a serious partner for one of the world's most active investment regions.
Understanding the broader Nigerian investment landscape is essential context for anyone following this story. Our guide on Nigerian stock market dynamics and the NGX covers the exchange's recent performance in detail.
Sources: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) · Nigerian Exchange Group · Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
Reported by the WealthBlueprint NewsDesk — delivering market intelligence, investment insight, and financial news that moves with purpose.