• South Africa issued $3.5 billion, making up over a quarter (25.6%) of all issuances on the continent.
• South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria issued $8.3 billion, accounting for 61% of Africa’s total Eurobond issuance in 2024.
• Despite economic uncertainties, Nigeria remains an active player in international markets, issuing $2.2 billion in Eurobonds.
• Francophone West Africa has a strong presence as Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Benin collectively issued $4.4 billion, highlighting their growing role in Africa’s debt markets.
• At $0.75 billion and $0.55 billion, respectively, Benin and Cameroon still secured external financing, but at significantly lower levels than their larger counterparts.

Key takeaways:

• The third quarter of 2023 displayed an unusually low tax payment of ₦104.9 million.
• Tax contributions stabilised once again in Q4 2023 and maintained a robust presence in 2024, especially in Q1 and Q3.
• Beginning at ₦1.99 billion in Q1 2021, BUA Foods’ income tax payments displayed fluctuations up until 2024.
• Tax payments for BUA Foods remained relatively stable between 2021 and 2022.
• The peak tax payments occurred in Q2 2023 at ₦7.09 billion and Q1 2024 at ₦6.54 billion.

Key takeaways:

• The tax-to-GDP ratio reached its peak in 2022/23 at 24.9%, signifying enhanced efficiency in tax collection.
• Throughout the past two decades, the percentage of tax revenue relative to GDP has exhibited significant stability.
• The tax revenue as a proportion of GDP has fluctuated between 21% and 25% over the last twenty years.
• Notable declines occurred during global economic downturns, such as the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The recent years (2021-2024) reflect a robust recovery, with tax revenue percentages approaching peak levels.

• Shoprite leads in geographical presence, with stores in 13 Nigerian states, followed by Marketsquare with 11 states.
• Everyday Supermarket is the only other chain with a presence in at least five states, while the majority of other brands are in just four or fewer states.
• Most retail chains in Nigeria remain regionally concentrated, with only a few achieving significant national coverage.
• The presence of only a few nationwide chains may present an opportunity for expansion by emerging retailers.

• Bokku! Mart dominates the retail landscape with 123 locations, nearly three times the count of the second-largest chain, Addide, which has 44 stores
• Marketsquare, Justrite, and Shoprite round out the top five with 36, 31, and 23 stores, respectively, indicating a competitive yet fragmented retail sector
• Most retail chains have fewer than 25 stores, with 13 out of the 18 listed having fewer than 15 stores
• Traditional supermarket names like Shoprite and Game face competition from local brands

• 2G remains the dominant network, covering 94.14% of Nigeria’s population, ensuring basic connectivity across the country.
• 3G has strong penetration at 89.42%, serving as a bridge between legacy and modern networks.
• 4G coverage reaches 84.19%, reflecting growing adoption but still lagging behind older technologies.
• 5G penetration is extremely low at just 11.80%, indicating that its rollout is still in its infancy and mostly limited to urban areas.
• The high coverage of older networks suggests continued reliance on legacy infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

• Glo is the only Nigerian mobile operator that prioritises tower ownership.
• It owns 8,550 towers, far exceeding its competitors combined.
• MTN, 9mobile, and Airtel own 286, 86, and 61 towers, respectively.
• Most operators lease towers from third-party providers like IHS Towers and American Tower Corporation, while Glo prefers to control its infrastructure.

• IHS Towers is the largest tower infrastructure provider in Nigeria, with 18,925 towers in 2023.
• IHS Towers controls 62.3% of the collocated telecom towers in the country.
• ATC Nigeria follows, operating 8,270 towers, significantly behind IHS Towers.
• Other players include Africa Mobile Networks (1,326 towers) and smaller firms (1,852 towers).
• The Nigerian tower market is highly consolidated, with IHS and American Tower Corporation dominating the space.

• MTN dominates submarine fibre optic deployment among GSM operators in Nigeria, increasing its network from 1,500 km in 2018 to 17,984 km in 2022
• Glo had the earliest and largest submarine fibre deployment, peaking at 19,200 km in 2012, but later scaled down to 9,800 km from 2014 onwards
• Airtel has not invested in submarine fibre, with its network remaining below 25 km throughout the period
• 9mobile has not deployed any submarine fibre cable since 2012

• Airtel has shown the most aggressive fibre optic expansion, increasing from 4,632 km in 2012 to 16,112 km in 2022
• Glo initially led with 16,224 km in 2012, but its fibre optic deployment later declined and stabilised around 13,000 km from 2018 to 2022
• Between 2019 and 2022, MTN's deployment remained unchanged at 14,612 km
• 9mobile's fibre deployment peaked in 2018 at 4,650 km and remained unchanged till 2022

• Dangote Cement has grown its revenue consistently since 2014 and reached a historic ₦3.6 trillion in 2024
• Revenues have more than tripled between 2020 (₦1.0 trillion) and 2024 (₦3.6 trillion)
• The year-on-year growth rate shows fluctuations, with declines in some years and sharp rebounds in 2020, 2022, and 2024
• The highest year-on-year growth occurred in 2024 (62.2%), signalling a particularly strong performance

• Nigeria’s active mobile GSM lines reached an all-time high of 224 million in 2023, up from 222 million in 2022.
• The number of active lines has grown steadily from 40 million in 2007, with notable surges in 2012 (110 million), 2018 (172 million), and 2020 (204 million).
• Growth slowed between 2016 and 2017, where active lines dipped slightly from 154 million to 145 million, before resuming an upward trajectory.
• With over 220 million active lines, Nigeria remains one of Africa’s largest telecom markets, driven by increasing mobile adoption.