Nigeria Stocks Surpass Pre-Devaluation Market Value After Rally

Companies whose valuations were battered by the naira’s fall have since shored up their balance sheets and returned to profitability.Photographer: Victor Adewale/Bloomberg

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February 17, 2026 at 2:01 PM UTC

Nigerian stocks’ strong start to the year has helped them recover the market value wiped out by a sharp naira devaluation two years ago.

The West African nation’s benchmark index surged 31% this year, delivering the world’s second best dollar returns. The rally far outpaces the 11% gain in the broader emerging-market index and the 6.4% advance in a gauge of frontier-market stocks.