Investing In Nigeria 2026 - A Strategic Legal Roadmap For Foreign Businesses

Investing in Nigeria 2026: A Strategic Legal Roadmap for Foreign Businesses

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Small Business, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Investment Law

As of 2026, Nigeria’s regulatory landscape has undergone its most significant transformation in over two decades. With the enactment of the Nigeria Tax Act (“NTA”) 2025 and the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (“NTAA”) 2025 which took effect on 1 January 2026, companies can no longer easily exploit legal loopholes. For foreign investors, the message is clear: success in the Nigerian market now requires compliance-by-design rather than addressed only when regulatory issues arise. The new architecture, anchored by the NTA, NTAA and the Investments and Securities Act (“ISA”) 2025, moves Nigeria toward a unified and digitally integrated regulatory strategy. This article highlights six important legal considerations every foreign business should understand before establishing or expanding operations in Nigeria in 2026.

What The Virtual Assets Coordination Order Means For Digital Assets Operators

What The Virtual Assets Coordination Order Means For Digital Assets Operators

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Small Business, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Investment Law

The coming into force of the Investments and Securities Act 2025, which repealed the Investments and Securities Act 2007, marked significant changes to the regulatory framework applicable to virtual and digital assets in Nigeria. Virtual and digital assets are now recognized as securities, and the businesses involved in activities relating to such assets falls within the regulatory purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The implications of this reclassification for issuers, exchanges and the wider public have been discussed in previous articles. It has, however, become clear that this is only one aspect of the evolving regulatory framework applicable to digital-asset businesses in Nigeria. Three separate regulatory tracks, an executive coordination order, an increase in the capital requirements prescribed by the SEC, and a bill currently before the Senate have, over the past eighteen months, further shaped the regulatory framework applicable to digital asset businesses in Nigeria.

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

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

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Investment Law

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

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)

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.

Goldsmiths Solicitors – Legal Recap for the Year 2025

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Sales, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Innovation and Technology, Intellectual Property, Public Sector, Startups and MSME Law, Telecommunications

2025 was a very exciting year and saw significant changes in Nigeria’s legal and regulatory landscape. Series of laws were enacted by the National Assembly and regulatory guidelines were also issued by regulators including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Nigerian Communications Commission, etc. There were also some important judicial decisions from the courts in Nigeria which shaped the legal and regulatory space in the country. This recap is divided into four parts representing the four quarters of the year, highlighting what we think are the most impactful laws and regulations, reforms, and judicial decisions in 2025.

Tax Reform Act

All You Need to Know About Nigeria’s Newly Signed Tax Reform Acts

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Business, Entrepreneurs, Business, Small Business, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Insights, Labour and Employment

Introduction On 26th June 2025, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed four landmark tax reform bills into law, marking a significant shift in the nation’s tax landscape.…

ARBITRATION

The Role of Arbitration in Resolving Disputes in Nigeria

Banking and Finance Law, Business Advisory, Capital Markets, Corporate & Commercial, Energy & Natural Resources, Financial Services, Financial Technology (FinTech), Innovation and Technology, Insights, Labour and Employment, Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Media and Entertainment, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), Startups and MSME Law

Disputes are inevitable in most business relationships. Traditional litigation, while effective, often proves to be time-consuming, expensive and adversarial, potentially straining business relationships. This is particularly the case in Nigeria…