OPay, the fintech giant that has come to dominate Nigeria’s digital payments landscape, is preparing to list its shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), according to sources familiar with the matter cited by media reports.
If it goes ahead, the listing would rank among the most consequential technology debuts in the history of the country’s capital market, a milestone moment for a sector that has, until now, largely looked abroad for public listings.
The NGX plan is unfolding against the backdrop of a much larger ambition: a potential initial public offering in the United States, where OPay has reportedly been in discussions with bankers about a valuation near $4 billion.
The company is said to be working with three heavyweight names on Wall Street Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase to steer that process.
What remains unclear is the architecture of the two listings. Sources have not indicated whether Lagos and New York would see simultaneous debuts or whether the NGX listing would follow the US offering as part of a staggered, dual-listing structure.
Equally unsettled are the mechanics that would matter most to investors: timing, offer size, valuation, and what portion of the company’s shares would ultimately be floated to the Nigerian public. OPay is expected to formally unveil its NGX plans in the near term, though a precise date has not been set.
Whatever form the listing takes, OPay arrives at this moment armed with an extraordinary growth story. An investment document reviewed by Nairametrics shows the company processed $358 billion in gross transaction value in 2025, more than double the $166.2 billion it processed the year before, a 115% jump.
Revenue told a similar story of acceleration, climbing 161% to $536.3 million. Perhaps more tellingly for prospective investors, the company swung from a $35.1 million operating loss in 2024 to $107.1 million in operating income in 2025 the kind of profitability inflection that public-market investors tend to reward.
Nigeria remains the engine of that performance by a wide margin, generating 88.1% of OPay’s total revenue last year, even as the company has pushed into other African markets.
The prospective Lagos listing also lands amid a broader push by Nigeria’s exchange to keep homegrown tech wealth from being created entirely offshore.
Earlier this month, NGX Group Chief Executive Officer Temi Popoola appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu, urging the administration to back policies that would encourage large, Nigeria-revenue-generating companies to list domestically rather than exclusively overseas.
Popoola pointed specifically to OPay and rival fintech PalmPay as companies weighing foreign listings, arguing that Nigerian investors deserve a seat at the table when it comes to sharing in the value these companies have built largely on the back of the domestic market.
A dual listing by OPay, even a partial one, would go some distance toward answering that call, giving retail and institutional investors in Nigeria direct exposure to a company whose fortunes are already deeply intertwined with the country’s digital economy.
For now, much hinges on details still to come. Whether the NGX listing accompanies the US IPO or trails it, and how large a stake Nigerian investors will be offered, are questions OPay has yet to answer publicly.
But the mere confirmation of intent marks a notable shift: a company once built on aggressive, venture-funded expansion is now moving toward the discipline and the visibility of public markets, with its home market poised to get a direct stake in the outcome.
Further details on the proposed NGX listing are expected in the coming weeks.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
OPay is moving toward a landmark dual listing, a possible NGX debut alongside a $4 billion US IPO, but the real story is the numbers behind it: transaction value more than doubled to $358 billion in 2025, revenue jumped 161% to $536.3 million, and the company flipped from an operating loss to $107 million in operating income.
That turnaround is what’s making Nigerian regulators push hard for local investors to get a stake, rather than watching another homegrown tech giant list its wealth entirely offshore.
