‘This is our company’: Nigerians show off oil wealth after share-buying frenzy

'This is our company': Nigerians show off oil wealth after share-buying frenzy. Many Nigerians buy their first ever shares – in the oil refinery owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote.

What happened

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty ImagesImage caption, Aliko Dangote wanted all Nigerians to get involved in the share offerByMansur Abubakar, Reporting fromAbuja and Chris Ewokor, BBC Africa, Reporting fromAbujaPublished18 September 2026, 00:24 BSTEvery Nigerian is now an oil magnate. More than four billion shares in his giant oil refinery – representing just over 3% of the company – went on the market on Monday in Africa's biggest-ever sale of its kind. But amid the frenzy, experts have warned that there are risks – shares can go down in value, as well as up, meaning people could lose some, or all, of their investment.

The company said it measured AI-led research and development, oversight of AI agents and compute allocation within Anthropic, and shared the methodologies. The board singled out one of the videos – showing the woman exercising absurdly and eating junk food – as a breach of the company’s bullying and harassment policy. Dangote said on Monday the share sale aimed to “democratise wealth creation”. 1 billion ​if the offer is oversubscribed and the company decides to use a greenshoe option to issue more shares.

The wider picture

People can participate in the IPO by buying as few ​as 10 shares on fintech and other digital investment platforms, which translates into a minimum investment amount of about $4. Nigerians have been eager to have a piece of the energy business that was built up by the country's – and continent's – richest man: Aliko Dangote. The minimum purchase was 10 shares for about $4 (£3) and despite this only representing a miniscule portion of the firm, many are now celebrating and joking about their new-found (part-)owner status.

One popular social media video has a Nigerian narrating how he stopped a speeding Dangote company lorry driver, telling him not to be reckless with company property. Other memes show investors trying to phone up Dangote to discuss business matters. And the term "Yangote" – a pun in the Hausa language essentially meaning "we all have a share now" – has been trending on social media. Image source, ReutersImage caption, The Bamboo trading platform crashed as so many people tried to buy the sharesBamboo, which runs one of the most popular investor tools here, later apologised, saying: "We know we let you down.

"Public affairs analyst Jamil Ubah said he had rarely seen Nigerians as excited about something as this.

What has been reported

Twenty-five-year-old clothes seller Idris Lawal Musa made his first-ever stock exchange purchase and told the BBC he was happy after investing 21,000 naira ($16; £12) in 40 shares. "It is no longer Dangote but 'Yangote', the company belongs to us now," he said while laughing. "I am a trader by profession and when I see that the shares have increased in price I will sell," he noted. Image source, ReutersImage caption, Newspaper adverts encouraged people to invest in the refineryThe popularity also reflects a growing investment culture among younger Nigerians who have embraced mobile trading platforms, cryptocurrencies and digital savings products.

People shared subscription guides, debated valuation metrics and encouraged friends and family to participate. Financial analyst Shuaib Uwais said prospective investors should avoid thinking of the IPO as a guaranteed route to wealth. "If for any reason the company experiences difficulty in sourcing its raw materials, there could be challenges," he told the BBC. But for Dangote, the share offer is about raising cash to fund the growth of the business, something that the country's mini-magnates may now be able to get behind.

What happens next

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The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across bbc.co.uk, cnbc.com, theguardian.com, sabcnews.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.