Chapter IV · Record
Inclusion criteria are strict: documented first, documented record, or documented material relevance to the Nigerian state. Never promotion.
The chartered company that governed the Niger territories until 1900; its commercial successor UAC was formed in 1929 — the very year this database's record begins — and dominated the colonial economy (at points handling a major share of all West African trade).
UAC of Nigeria plc still operates.
Nigeria's oldest bank — continuous operation since 1894.
Operating (FBN Holdings).
Brewed the first bottle of STAR lager in June 1949 — the first industrial-scale brewery in Nigeria and a founding artefact of Nigerian manufacturing.
Operating (Heineken majority).
Dangote Cement is Africa's largest cement producer; the Dangote Refinery (commissioned 2023–24, Lekki) is the world's largest single-train refinery (650,000 bpd) — a global engineering record held by a Nigerian company.
Operating.
First network to launch per-second billing in Nigeria (2003), breaking the per-minute cartel pricing; built Glo-1 (2010) — the first international submarine cable wholly owned by a single African company.
Operating (Mike Adenuga).
Nigeria's first indigenous vehicle manufacturer (Nnewi).
Operating.
Built Nigeria's interbank switching backbone (Verve, Quickteller); became Africa's first widely-recognised fintech unicorn ($1bn+ valuation, Visa investment 2019).
Operating.
First Nigerian startup admitted to Y Combinator (2016); acquired by Stripe in 2020 for a reported $200m+ — the largest US acquisition of a Nigerian startup at the time and the deal that globalised "Nigerian tech" as an asset class.
Operating (Stripe).
Reached a $3bn+ valuation (2022) — at its peak the most valuable African startup on record.
Operating.
First Nigerian company to dual-list on the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges (2005).
Operating.
First Nigerian company dual-listed on the London and Nigerian exchanges (2014); completed the landmark acquisition of ExxonMobil's Nigerian shallow-water assets (2024) — the largest indigenous takeover of an international oil major's Nigerian portfolio.
Operating.
The two flagship "new generation" banks; both listed on the London Stock Exchange (GTBank 2007 — first Nigerian company on the LSE main market via GDRs; Zenith 2013). GTCO's 2021 holding-company restructure and Zenith's scale records are documented in NGX filings.
Operating.
West Africa's largest airline by fleet; the 2019 evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa's xenophobic violence — at the airline's own cost — is a documented civic act cross-referenced in the Diplomatic History (South Africa entry).
Operating.
By output volume, the world's second-largest film industry (documented UNESCO/PwC studies) — included as an industry-of-record note; individual studios do not yet meet single-company criteria.
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The state oil corporation at the centre of Nigeria's political economy; its 2022 conversion to a limited company under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 is a structural landmark.
Operating (NNPC Ltd).
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Redline
Wikipedia is never a source.