Nigeria has repaid $12.56 billion of its external debt in 15 years
Nigeria repaid an average of $368m in external debt every year between 2008 and 2017. In 2018, the payments increased by 217% to $1.47b from $464m in 2017, then dropped by 9.4% in 2019, and has since been on the rise. Here are Nigeria's external debt repayments since 2008.
MTN Nigeria leads at ₦16.38 trillion, making it the most valuable listed company.
The top three firms (MTN Nigeria, BUA Foods, and Dangote Cement) are far ahead of the rest, each exceeding ₦13 trillion.
9 of the 26 companies are in the financial services sector.
Telecoms and manufacturing dominate the upper tier, highlighting infrastructure and essential services as market anchors.
Energy companies are firmly positioned, reflecting their central role in the economy.
Market concentration is high, as a few giants carry disproportionate weight relative to the 122 sub-₦1 trillion firms.
Sector diversity exists within the top 26, but most belong to industries tied to basic economic activity rather than emerging tech or high-growth startups.
The Army has been allocated ₦1.50tn, more than half of the top-ten defence allocations, making it the backbone of Nigeria’s security spending.
The Navy (₦443.9bn) and Air Force (₦407.2bn) come next, but together they are far behind the Army.
Institutions like the Defence Intelligence Agency, Training and Doctrine Command, and Defence Missions receive meaningful but much smaller funding, reinforcing their support-role status.
The Defence Space Administration (₦37.3bn) is on the table, but its small size shows Nigeria is only cautiously stepping into cyber- and space-based security.