Nigeria’s Non-Interest Finance Industry Closes 2025 at N5.77 Trillion

Nigeria’s non-interest finance industry closed 2025 at N5.77 trillion, fifteen years after Jaiz Bank received the country’s first full non-interest banking licence, according to a Proshare integrated analysis reported by Blueprint Newspapers on July 19, 2026. Proshare’s own analysis flags a catch behind the headline figure: the growth is concentrated in a small set of banks and in government-issued paper, not spread across the wider range of Sharia-compliant instruments regulators keep saying they want.

Nigeria’s non-interest finance industry, comprising non-interest banks, takaful operators, and Sharia-compliant funds, reached N5.77 trillion in total assets by the end of 2025, according to Proshare. Non-interest banking assets make up N3.78 trillion of that total, and sovereign sukuk accounts for N1.19 trillion of the N1.6 trillion non-interest capital market segment the Securities and Exchange Commission tracks.

A Fifteen-Year Build

The industry today comprises four non-interest banks, five takaful operators, and twenty Sharia-compliant funds, Proshare’s end-2025 analysis found. Those non-interest banking assets represent 65.5 percent of total industry assets, leaving takaful, the funds, and the capital market to divide the rest. That expansion adds another data point to Nigeria’s broader halal economy growth, which The Halal Times has tracked previously. Growth in the number of institutions hasn’t matched growth in what those institutions are financing.

Sovereign Paper Carries the Capital Market

Sovereign sukuk accounted for N1.19 trillion, about 74 percent, of the N1.6 trillion non-interest capital market, according to Proshare’s analysis. That capital market segment is the same one the SEC has been promoting: Dr. Emomotimi Agama, the SEC’s Director-General, described non-interest finance as the fastest-growing segment of Nigeria’s capital market, valuing the segment at N1.6 trillion, according to an October 8, 2025 report by Investors King. A recent sovereign sukuk issuance was oversubscribed by 700 percent, per the same report, and Fitch Ratings’ June 2025 analysis recorded a separate offering oversubscribed by 735 percent, with the Federal Government having taken in N2.205 trillion in cumulative subscriptions since its 2017 sovereign sukuk debut. Investors clearly want the paper. What they don’t have yet is much else to buy.

Three States, No Corporate Sukuk

Only three of Nigeria’s thirty-six states have issued sukuk since 2013, Proshare’s analysis found. Corporate sukuk issuance is essentially absent, one of the hurdles Fitch Ratings named in its June 2025 report alongside “limited product availability and distribution channels,” a “still-developing regulatory framework,” “lack of awareness,” and “strong opposition from segments of the public.” Fitch separately sized the whole Islamic finance industry at about $4 billion by the end of May 2025, with sukuk outstanding at $2.2 billion over the first five months of the year, down 4 percent year-over-year — a different currency, a different date, and a narrower scope than Proshare’s N5.77 trillion year-end tally, not a contradiction of it. Sukuk issuance beyond Nigeria has moved unevenly too, as The Halal Times has reported on Malaysia and the GCC; Nigeria’s own market is still small enough that a handful of transactions can move its percentages.

Takaful, meanwhile, held less than 1 percent of total insurance assets at the end of 2024, according to Fitch Ratings, and Proshare’s analysis notes the segment still lacks a published baseline for gross written premium or market penetration despite five operators now active. Non-interest banks’ assets grew 110 percent year-over-year as of end-2024, Fitch found, evidence that the banking side of the industry is expanding fast even as the insurance and corporate-debt sides stay undeveloped.

Who’s Financing With It

Two recent transactions show where the money is actually landing. Lotus Bank signed a N100 billion facility with the Rural Electrification Agency, and Alternative Bank agreed a N14 billion facility with Niger State, according to Proshare’s analysis. Both finance infrastructure and public-sector projects rather than corporate balance sheets, consistent with a market still built around a handful of banks and government counterparties. Experts quoted by The Guardian Nigeria have called for broadening the range of Sharia-compliant instruments available beyond Federal Government securities.

Proshare’s own conclusion is blunt: the next phase of growth depends on expanding investible instruments beyond Federal Government securities. Fitch projects continued growth in non-interest finance and sukuk issuance through 2026, but its June 2025 report left the corporate-sukuk gap unresolved. Whether more states, or a first corporate sukuk deal, move before then is what regulators, bankers, and investors are watching next.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is Nigeria’s non-interest finance industry?
It closed 2025 at N5.77 trillion in total assets, according to a Proshare integrated analysis reported by Blueprint Newspapers on July 19, 2026, with non-interest banking assets making up N3.78 trillion of that figure.

How many Nigerian states have issued sukuk?
Only three of Nigeria’s thirty-six states have issued sukuk since 2013, according to Proshare’s integrated analysis.

How much is Nigeria’s sovereign sukuk worth?
Sovereign sukuk totaled N1.19 trillion at the end of 2025, about 74 percent of the N1.6 trillion non-interest capital market, per Proshare; separately, the Federal Government had taken in N2.205 trillion in cumulative subscriptions since its 2017 sukuk debut, according to Fitch Ratings’ June 2025 report.

Does Nigeria have corporate sukuk?
Corporate sukuk issuance is essentially absent; Fitch Ratings’ June 2025 report listed it among the industry’s structural hurdles, alongside limited product availability and a still-developing regulatory framework.

How big is takaful in Nigeria?
Takaful held less than 1 percent of total insurance assets at the end of 2024, according to Fitch Ratings, and Proshare’s analysis notes the segment still lacks a published baseline for gross written premium or market penetration.