FTSE Russell to Upgrade Nigeria to Frontier Market Status in Sept.
FTSE Russell, the global index provider, today announced that Nigeria will be reclassified to frontier market status in September 2026, according to an official notice.
The global index provider said this in a published report on its March 2026 semi-annual country classification review for countries monitored by its global equity and fixed-income indices.
MarketForces Africa reported that Nigeria was added to the watch list in September 2025 for possible reclassification from Unclassified to Frontier market status.
Recalled that Nigeria was reclassified from Frontier to Unclassified market status in September 2023 due to significant and ongoing delays in international institutional investors’ ability to repatriate capital from Nigeria and to execute foreign exchange (FX) transactions.
Following the naira reform, FTSE Russell said market participants have reported that the aforementioned FX queues have been cleared and that international institutional investors are no longer experiencing any material delays in repatriating capital from Nigeria.
Based on its assessment, FTSE Russel confirmed that Nigeria meets the five FTSE Quality of Markets criteria required to attain Frontier market status within the FTSE Equity Country Classification scheme.
This followed the feedback received from the FTSE Equity Country Classification Advisory Committee and the FTSE Russell Policy Advisory Board, the FTSE Russell Index Governance Board confirms.
The upgrade scheduled for September will reverse the country’s de-ranking, which occurred about 3 years ago when Nigeria initiated capital controls, making it difficult for most foreign investors to remit funds.
With a plan to confer the new status in Sept, FTSE Russell confirms, through the March 2026 interim review, that Nigeria will be reclassified from Unclassified to Frontier market status.
The global index said the reclassification is scheduled to take effect in conjunction with the FTSE Frontier annual review and the FTSE Global Equity Index Series September 2026 semi-annual review, effective from the open on Monday, 21 September 2026. Zenith Bank Announces N8.75 as Final Dividend for 2025
