Seven Insights from Reading Nigerian Newspapers

Got a few late June 2026 copies of The Punch (sells for Naira 300) and This Day (sells for Naira 400) to review. As a reader of daily newspapers in Kenya, I find foreign newspapers to be a fascinating source of news to contrast with the ones in Nairobi. Here are some items categorized by buckets. 

  

1. Banking Stories

• The maximum allowed interest rate is 34.78% in May 2026, down from 35.17%.
• Deposit protection covers 281 million depositors at 914 financial institutions, with 98% fully insured. The protection covers account holders at banks, microfinance institutions and mobile money operators.  
• Nigeria is introducing an overnight financing rate to be accepted as the benchmark for the cost of money. 
• Regulator-driven mergers are happening, and ProdivusUnity Bank is the result of a merger between Prodivus and Unity banks arranged by the Central Bank.
• Cards are not Visa or MasterCard, and monthly dollar limits vary by card tier and bank; for example, at one bank, platinum cardholders have a $9,000 quarterly limit on international transactions (via POS, web, ATM), compared to $7,500 for gold cards. 
• A former Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, is facing charges for receiving $17 million through an intermediary in 2023.

2. Newspaper Writing Styles 

• They give prominence to the source of the headline story, whether it’s an event (book launch or industry event) or a speech or statement (e.g. from a presidential advisor).  e.g. the President wishing happy birthday to an oil chief is covered on the same page as another on a bishop giving his state of the nation address as is a letter from a man to his dad (who is a governor) urging him to find jobs for the youth in his state (taken from his Facebook).
• The newspapers are adorned with large colour pictures of events and ceremonies. They often take up 1/3 of a page, are clear, and show the people with their names and official titles.  
• Many stories end with "read the full article online" to drive readers to online pages.
• Business pages feature the email and phone number of the editor.
• The Back page is used for news, not sports, which is relegated to a few inside pages. Some stories start on the back page (e.g. 40) and continue on pages inside (35 and 36). 
• A page of "letters to the editor" gets prominence. 150-200 word ones are invited, as are opinion pieces of 1,000 words.
• The Saturday Punch bills itself as the most widely read newspaper, which passes through many hands on a day when people are free from work and less stressed.

3. Newspaper Advertisements: 

• Pages two and three are full-page advertisements by banks. Kenyan papers will be envious of such competition, as it seems advertising has not fully shifted to digital in Nigeria, and they still command good budgets. In fact, there are no half or quarter-page ads by banks, and it’s almost as if no serious bank will advertise on less than one page, in colour.
• But personal adverts are a bigger business than corporate or bank ads. The newspapers are full of personal full-page colour ads such as full-page obituaries, one-year remembrances, happy birthday (to an incredible husband), congratulations from a son to a dad who has got a government appointment, or the President saluting a governor on his birthday.
• State governments like Abia State and Ondo State published their audited accounts like a bank on three pages for 2025, itemizing their cash flow statement, balance sheet, consolidated revenue, and auditors’ opinions. It would be nice to have Kenyan counties publish what the Auditor General reports on their accounts before their governors are summoned to the Senate for hearings.
• The Punch has a notice that they do not demand or accept gifts to publish articles or photographs, and invites reports or any complaints to be sent in.

4. Dangote is Big News 

• Aliko Dangote met President Samia of Tanzania at State House, Dar es Salaam. While the East Africa refinery is planned for Lamu, Kenya, in Tanzania, the Dangote Group has plans for a port, a coal-fired power plant, a urea fertilizer factory and access roads.
• Dangote recently imported 2 million barrels of oil from Libya, the first such shipment ever recorded, and crude from the UAE, comprising two cargoes, following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. 
• Nigerians are awaiting price cuts by the Dangote Group, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and oil marketers. 
• While the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has not filed for or authorised any IPO-related marketing, the Nigerian Exchange Group CEO says a listing is on track to match the value of all new listings in 2025. Already, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of Nigerians opening trading accounts this year.

5. Investing in Nigerian Shares 

• The 120 listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange have a market value of 150 trillion Naira as of June 2026. That’s about 14 trillion Kenyan shillings, while the Nairobi Exchange is valued at about 4 trillion shillings. 
• Top firms are MTN Nigeria (Naira 17.4 trillion), Dangote Cement (16.2T), Bua Foods (10.9T), Bua Cement (10.7T), and Airtel Africa (10.3T). Other large firms are Nestle Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Nigerian Breweries, Presco, and Aradel Holdings. Notably, banks, while not the largest firms on the exchange, are the main drivers of liquidity; they include Zenith, Guaranty Trust, Ecobank Nigeria, and Stanbic IBTC.

6. Diaspora Matters 

• Nigerians in the UK can now renew their passports online, upload documents, pay, track their applications, and have the passports delivered to their homes without ever coming to the High Commission in London. This will now take 5 days instead of the 6 months before. 
• In the last year, 1.3 million Nigerians had their UK visa applications rejected, second only to India and ahead of Pakistan and China. In comparison, 2.7 million Nigerians were granted UK visas, the highest in Africa, followed by South Africa and Egypt. Over 21 years, the UK has rejected 33% of Nigerian visa applicants, double the UK average of 15%. 
• South African multinationals are feeling the heat of xenophobia. The Chairman of the MTN Group, which has a presence in 19 countries, has condemned the violence, which he blames on leaders in SA.
• 1,000 Nigerians registered with the Federal Government for evacuation from South Africa, and 324 had been flown from Johannesburg, but over 700 remained stranded over the weekend with the June 30 deadline looming. In the last year, over 20 Nigerians have died in South Africa. 
• Six players of Nigerian heritage were selected in the NBA draft. The highest was an ex-Stanford player who Oklahoma picked 17th, and his rights were later traded to Detroit.

7.  It is Election Season:

• Ahead of the January 2027 elections, a judge has refused the registration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) party, which presidential candidate Peter Obi, who came third in the 2022 election, was going to use in the run for the seat in January 2027. The decision was made after another party complained that NDC was infringing on its logo. NDC says it is business as usual and is appealing. 
• An open letter by the Muslim community in Remo Federal Constituency to the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) alleges that, despite their high voter turnout, the outgoing and incoming governors and the outgoing and incoming senator are all Christians, as is the member of the House of Representatives and three of the four House of Assembly members. They say that the Muslim population in Remo is between 45-55%, and they call upon the party to address a gap that needs to be reflected in the leadership.