Nigeria has proposed connecting the capital markets of 10 West African countries so that companies and governments can raise money across the region without starting the approval process from scratch in each country.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele set out the plan on Tuesday, November 10, at the S&P Global Ratings Africa Summit in Lagos. He argued that fragmented markets were holding the region back, with no single exchange deep enough to attract the scale of long-term investment needed for infrastructure, according to The EastAfrican.
What is on the table
- A regional passport: an issuer approved in one participating market could raise capital in the others without separate regulatory approvals.
- One investor ID: investors registered in one country could buy bonds and equities across the region without repeating onboarding.
- Local-currency settlement: linked trading, settlement and payment systems so securities deals settle directly in local currencies, reducing reliance on the US dollar.
- New tools: a regional local-currency bond index and a credit enhancement facility for cross-border infrastructure.
The plan would cover Nigeria, Ghana and the eight CFA franc countries that share a common central bank: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo (The EastAfrican).
“Pilots, not treaties”
Oyedele said regulators should start small, with a pilot covering Nigeria, Ghana and the BRVM, the regional exchange of the French-speaking CFA countries. “Let us start with pilots, not treaties,” he said, calling for a coalition of willing regulators, one passport and one cross-border bond within 12 months, as reported by MoneyCentral.
He pointed to the West African Capital Markets Integration Council, the African Exchanges Linkage Project and the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) as existing building blocks. “The task now is to join these pieces together,” he said.
The minister also restated Nigeria’s ambition to win an investment-grade credit rating within three years, after S&P upgraded the country to B with a stable outlook in May, and to build a capital market worth at least $1 trillion under a 10-year plan (MoneyCentral; TaxNigeria).
Trade finance boost
The proposal landed the same week the African Development Bank announced a $200 million revolving trade-finance line of credit for the Trade and Development Bank (TDB). The facility, approved on October 28, is expected to support more than $1 billion in trade transactions over three and a half years (Africa Ports & Ships).
What happens next
For now, the regional framework is a proposal with no implementation timetable. Its success depends on regulators in 10 countries, two currency zones and different legal traditions agreeing on common rules. If it works, a saver in Accra or Dakar could one day buy a Nigerian infrastructure bond as easily as a local one, and settle the trade without touching the dollar.
