Nigeria: Corporate/Commercial Law

Nigeria has emerged as a leading destination for private equity and venture capital in Africa, with $3 billion invested across 404 transactions between 2020 and 2024. The newly enacted Investments and Securities Act 2025 introduces comprehensive regulatory oversight for PE and VC funds, bringing enhanced investor protection, stricter compliance requirements, and clearer operational frameworks to this rapidly evolving market.

In a unanimous decision handed down on June 10, 2026, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court that Section 18(2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, as amended (“CAMA 2020”)...

Nigeria's 2026 tax reforms introduce transformative changes affecting businesses and individuals, from expanded deductions and VAT exemptions to fundamental rights protections. These comprehensive legal updates reshape corporate governance, contract renegotiation strategies, and compliance requirements across multiple sectors.

The classification of workers as either independent contractors or employees is one of the most consequential legal determinations a foreign company operating in Nigeria must make.

The Central Bank of Nigeria's Fourth Edition of the Foreign Exchange Manual introduces sweeping changes to currency and trade regulations, raising import payment thresholds, increasing tuition remittance limits...

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) represents a transformative infrastructure for cross-border payments across Africa, enabling instant transactions in local currencies without relying on intermediary Western currencies. This comprehensive analysis explores how PAPSS operates through its three core processes of instant payment, pre-funding, and net settlement, while examining Nigeria's regulatory framework and the system's critical role in advancing the African Continental Free Trade Area

Nigeria has emerged as a leading destination for private equity and venture capital in Africa, with $3 billion invested across 404 transactions between 2020 and 2024. The newly enacted Investments and Securities Act 2025 introduces comprehensive regulatory oversight for PE and VC funds, bringing enhanced investor protection, stricter compliance requirements, and clearer operational frameworks to this rapidly evolving market.

In Nigeria's dynamic startup ecosystem, founders face a critical decision when raising capital: should they pursue debt financing with its immediate tax benefits through deductible interest expenses, or opt for equity financing that offers long-term investor incentives like capital gains tax exemptions and investment tax credits? This analysis examines how tax implications influence capital structure decisions for Nigerian startups at different growth stages.

The taxation of capital gains has historically played a modest but strategically important role within Nigeria's fiscal architecture. Under the pre-existing regime, the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) framework was governed primarily by the Capital Gains Tax Act (CGTA), which imposed tax on gains arising from the disposal of chargeable assets

Nigeria has emerged as a critical hub for venture capital and corporate expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet success hinges on understanding the complex regulatory framework introduced by CAMA 2020...

The enactment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (“CAMA 2020”) introduced a significant development in Nigerian corporate law by permitting the incorporation of private companies with a single shareholder1. This represented a departure from the position under the repealed Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990, which required every company to have a minimum of two shareholders.

The Court of Appeal has resolved a critical question that has persisted since CAMA 2020's enactment: whether private companies incorporated before the new legislation can operate with a single shareholder. This landmark decision clarifies the availability of the single-shareholder structure for all private companies, regardless of their incorporation date, offering significant implications for corporate ownership flexibility in Nigeria.