Crisis to recovery: Charting Nigerian markets

The promise that Nigeria’s banks could channel the country’s oil wealth into businesses across the continent ranks among the most compelling growth stories in Africa.

Yet a crash on the Nigerian Stock Exchange that wiped more than 60 per cent off the value of many Nigerian banking stocks has sapped trust in the system.

Lamido Sanusi, the new governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has vowed to restore confidence by enforcing tougher standards of disclosure and transparency, hoping to put the financial sector on the path to more sustainable growth.

Compare the Nigerian market indices in the graphic below, which shows the pits and troughs of performance since a consolidation exercise in 2005 triggered a period of rapid growth in banks’ size and ambitions.

Click on individual indices to add or remove them from the chart.