What the Investment & Securities Act 2025 Will Mean for Your Business

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Investment LawBy Colin Egemonye July 15, 2026

The Investment and Securities Act 2025 (ISA 2025), signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in March 2025 is the most comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s capital market legislation in nearly two decades. It repealed the Investment and Securities Act 2007 and provides for a new restructured framework to accommodate new asset classes and to significantly expand the enforcement powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so as to align Nigeria’s capital markets with world standards. This article highlights six changes that are important to public companies, issuers, capital market operators including virtual/digital assets businesses in Nigeria.

What the CBN’s Financial Holding Company Rules Mean for Banking Groups Banking and Finance Practice

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, Financial Technology (FinTech)By Colin Egemonye July 6, 2026

On 10 June 2026, the CBN published an Exposure Draft of Revised Guidelines for the Licensing and Regulation of Financial Holding Companies in Nigeria. The Exposure Draft’s public consultation window ends on 9 July 2026. Among the most significant changes to the holding company framework in the draft is the move from three-pillar structures to four-pillar structures. If approved, the proposed framework would be the most significant revamp of the holding company framework since the guidelines were issued for Nigerian banking groups during restructuring away from universal banking into holding companies structures in 2014.

How to Commercialise Your Intellectual Property While Maintaining Control

UpdatesBy Colin Egemonye June 24, 2026

IP licensing is the grant of a right to use the intellectual property, usually for a fee, royalty or other consideration. It is one of the most commercially underutilised tools available to Nigerian businesses. A trademark, established through years of investment, can generate a continuous stream of licensing revenues from franchisees, distributors or commercial partners. Software developed for internal use can be licensed to third parties in related markets. A unique proprietary method or approach distinguishing a professional services firm can be packaged and licensed into other geographies.

The NITDA Digital Economy Policy Review 2026: What Every Nigerian Technology Business Should Know

UpdatesBy Colin Egemonye June 16, 2026

The regulatory environment for Nigeria’s digital economy is on the cusp of its most significant shift in more than ten years. This article outlines the implications of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) 2026 policy review on businesses and the immediate steps required to achieve compliance. It is updated to incorporate recent legal and regulatory developments as of May 2026. In this article, we have discussed s the five (5) top priority areas within the NITDA 2026 policy review and how organisations should proceed immediately.

Nigerian Open Banking: The Legal Framework All Banks and FinTechs Need to Know

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Corporate & Commercial, Financial Technology (FinTech), Innovation and Technology, Startups and MSME LawBy Colin Egemonye June 10, 2026

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) framework on open banking has now transitioned from a policy document to a phased implementation. Nigeria has a comprehensive history of open banking; with the Central Bank issuing Africa’s first Open Banking Regulatory framework in February 2021, followed by the Operational Guidelines in March 2023. In April 2025, the CBN provided August 2025 as the launch date for an operation that would have seen Nigeria emerge as the first African country to launch national open banking. However, the initial launch date was deferred as the CBN stressed that a wholly automated system that offers robust data protection and stringent consumer protection mechanisms should first be in place.

Corporate Restructuring in Nigeria: When to Do It, Why It Matters, and How to Do It Right

Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Small Business, Corporate & Commercial, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), Startups and MSME LawBy Colin Egemonye June 3, 2026

The legal process for restructuring is the most significant for a Nigerian company, and arguably, one that is the most often initiated incorrectly. Those who get restructuring right treat it as a thoughtful, planned process – one with clear commercial objectives and the benefit of legal advice that understands both the relevant legal and regulatory framework, and the desired business outcome. Those who get it wrong approach restructuring reactively: when time-critical, after a term sheet is signed or in the midst of a shareholder dispute that is already causing damage to the relationships the restructuring is intended to resolve. Below are the five typical triggers that can give rise to a restructuring in Nigeria: what options are available and what mistakes are the costliest when dealing with them. Please note that all references to stamp duties and other related fiscal levies apply in accordance with the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) 2025, effective January 1, 2026.

What Every Nigerian Employers & Employees Should Know About Employment Law

Business Advisory, Business, Careers, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Small Business, Corporate & Commercial, Labour and Employment, Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)By Colin Egemonye June 1, 2026

On 1st May, Nigeria joined over 160 countries in celebrating International Workers’ Day, a public holiday that offers not just celebration, but a time for reflection. It is also a reminder of how wide the gap is between Nigerian labour law as written and the realities in many Nigerian workplaces. – This gap is not merely academic, but has real commercial consequences. For businesses that are unaware they are being targeted for unfair dismissal claims, for employees whose rights are not known, and for employers who think a one-page offer letter is sufficient for an employment contract, this article examines both sides of the employment relationship, because Workers’ Day is not about one without the other.

DFI Lending in Nigeria: What Every Borrower Must Know Before Signing

Business Advisory, Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Project Finance, Startups and MSME LawBy Kingsley Anyiam May 18, 2026

Lending from development finance institutions such as the International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, Proparco, and German Development Finance Institution, DEG, and other multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions is becoming more accessible to Nigerian businesses across sectors. There may be longer tenors, attractive pricing, or even a strategic partnership that adds credibility and capital. However, borrowers should be aware that DFI loans are not commercial bank loans. They come with conditions, obligations and consequences that many Nigerian borrowers are not prepared for when they enter the facility agreement. In this article, we identify the five most critical areas where DFI lending most often cause problems for Nigerian borrowers and what every borrower should know before signing.

Embedded Finance in Nigeria – What Every Bank-Fintech Partnership Needs

Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Project FinanceBy Emmanuel Amadi May 13, 2026

By integrating financial services products into non-financial platforms and business models, embedded finance is changing the Nigerian financial services landscape faster than the regulatory and legal frameworks that govern it. Several banks are distributing financial products through digital channels using FinTech. The fintechs are leveraging bank APIs to deliver services that were once available only to licensed financial houses. Retailers, logistics companies and software companies are integrating payments, lending and insurance into their customer experiences.
This has huge commercial potential. Legal risks are also real and not adequately managed in most bank-finance partnership arrangements we review. Five key legal requirements that every embedded finance partnership in Nigeria must meet before the arrangement goes live are laid out in this article.

Five Important Contract Clauses Every Nigerian Business Should Audit Now

Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Sales, Business, Small Business, Corporate & Commercial, Startups and MSME LawBy Colin Egemonye May 8, 2026

Most Nigerian business owners know their contracts need attention. Yet, only a few have read them recently. There is a gap between what a contract actually says and what a business truly needs. In terms of scale, risk exposure, and commercial relationships, it grows wider every year the document is left unreviewed. This article examines five clauses that we consistently find in Nigerian business contracts. Each of them has real commercial consequences if it fails. All of them are fixable if the problem is identified before the dispute, the loss, or the failed deal.