Ten leading stocks on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) account for a combined market capitalisation of N115.98 trillion, representing 71.15 per cent of the bourse’s total N163 trillion equity market value, underscoring the concentration of wealth among a small group of listed companies.

The stocks cut across various sectors: the telecommunications, cement, consumer goods, oil and gas and banking sectors, including Airtel Africa Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, BUA Foods Plc, BUA Cement Plc, Seplat Energy Plc, FirstHoldCo Plc, Aradel Holdings Plc, HBM Nigeria Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

Data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) as at October 13, 2026, indicated that Airtel Africa leads the group with N23.7 trillion, which makes up about 14.7 per cent of the entire Nigerian Exchange. Dangote Cement followed with N18 trillion, constituting 11.2 per cent of the overall market value, while MTN Nigeria trailed with N17.7 trillion.

Analysis by The Guardian showed that BUA Foods ranked fourth with N13.7 trillion, while BUA Cement has a market value of N10.1 trillion. Seplat Energy followed with N9.6 trillion, while FirstHoldCo is valued at N6.22 trillion.

Aradel Holdings has a market capitalisation of N5.98 trillion, followed by HBM Nigeria at N5.72 trillion and Zenith Bank at N5.26 trillion.

Together, the 10 companies have a combined market value of N115.98 trillion, constituting 70.55 per cent of the N160 trillion overall market capitalisation and leaving approximately N47 trillion, or 28 per cent, for the remaining 146 listed equities, as there are currently a total of 156 listed firms on the exchange.

The figures highlighted the significant weight carried by a handful of large companies in the overall value of the Nigerian equities market, as changes in the share prices of these stocks can have a substantial effect on total market capitalisation.

Operators argued that when market capitalisation is concentrated in a few large companies, the performance of the NGX becomes heavily dependent on these stocks.

This means that their share price movements can significantly influence the All-Share Index (ASI) even when many other listed companies are recording weaker performances.

Consequently, this may create a misleading impression of broad-based market growth, while smaller companies attract less investor attention and trading activity.

Team Lead, Finance Research Department at InvestingPort, Uwem Olubummo, said the uneven distribution of wealth creation is another concern, as investors in the dominant stocks may enjoy faster share price appreciation than those holding shares in other listed companies.

According to her, companies outside this group may struggle to attract similar investor interest unless they demonstrate strong financial performance, improve key financial ratios and deliver attractive returns to shareholders.

To address this imbalance, she said market stakeholders need to encourage more companies to list on the exchange, strengthen corporate governance and transparency, and build investor confidence.

Olubummo pointed out that improving access to capital through the stock market would also help more businesses grow and attract investment.

On the part of investors, she said there is a need to diversify their portfolios across sectors and companies rather than focus mainly on stocks with the largest market capitalisation.

President of New Dimension Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Patrick Ajudua, said: “The negative effect is that wealth creation is not evenly spread and companies outside these categories might not enjoy investors’ rapid share appreciation in stock.

“Therefore, unless they produce an increase in financial ratios via impressive financial performance and reward to investors, the stock outside these categories will continue to lag.”