STATART analysis of the Nigerian Exchange Group's Q3 2026 commercial paper market report.
Nigerian companies raised ₦1.51tn through commercial paper between January and September 2026, across 131 series from 60 issuers, according to NGX Group's Q3 2026 commercial paper market report.
That works out to about ₦11.5bn per series and ₦25.2bn per issuer, with each issuer coming to market about 2.2 times on average (STATART calculations). Commercial paper is short-term company borrowing, and those numbers point to a market used repeatedly by the same borrowers.
Q3 carried 33.5% of the year
The pace held up late in the year. Issuers raised ₦506.4bn in Q3 alone, about 33.5% of the 9-month total, against about ₦1.0tn in the first half (STATART calculation: nine-month total less Q3 issuance).
Source: NGX Q3 2026 commercial paper market report. Jan to Jun is a STATART calculation: nine-month total less Q3 issuance. Chart: STATART Insights and Analytics
See the numbers
| Raised | |
|---|---|
| Jan to Jun | ₦1,003.6bn |
| Jul to Sep | ₦506.4bn |
The calendar ahead is busy too. The report lists 27 series from 23 companies maturing in Q4, so some of the next quarter's issuance will be companies rolling over existing paper.
What the listings show
Listing on the exchange remains the exception. 7 commercial paper series worth ₦216.1bn were listed on NGX during 2026. That isn't a slice of the 131 series above: 3 of the 7 listed series were first issued in late 2025, so the 2 figures can't be compared directly.
1 issuer dominates the listed side. Dangote Cement's Series 1 and 2, worth ₦119.87bn under its ₦500bn programme, were listed in February 2026 and equal about 55.5% of the ₦216.1bn listed value (STATART calculation). The other listed issuers named include Coleman Technical Industries, MeCure Industries and NGN Gram.
So the market is large and active, but most of it sits off the exchange, and the listed part leans heavily on 1 big name. NGX's stated aim in publishing the report is to deepen the listed market; the Q4 maturities will show whether more of the companies refinancing choose to list.
Source: Nigerian Exchange Group, Q3 2026 Nigerian Commercial Paper Market Report.
Figures are as reported at the time of writing. STATART news is written by Frank Brother (Markets), Christina Amgbari (Insights) and Ebipadei Joseph (Lifestyle), and checked before publication.