Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has told the public not to invest through WayvePay, a digital banking app it says is not registered to take investments from the public. The warning comes as the country’s biggest-ever share sale, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery initial public offering (IPO), heads into its final hours.
The SEC’s notice, titled “Suspected Fraudulent Activities of WayvePay”, is dated 9 October 2026 and was posted on the Commission’s circulars page on 10 October. Nairametrics reported the warning the same day, linking it to a newspaper announcement in which WayvePay said its customers could take part in the Dangote IPO through its app.
The Dangote offer is scheduled to close tomorrow, Tuesday 13 October. So the timing matters for anyone trying to buy shares at the last minute.
What the SEC said
The notice is short and direct. The SEC says WayvePay runs through a website, social media accounts and a mobile app, and that it is “not registered by the Commission to solicit investments from the public”. It adds that WayvePay is not authorised to operate in any capacity in Nigeria’s capital market.
The Commission told Nigerians not to invest with WayvePay, its representatives or its agents on anything to do with the capital market. Anyone who does so, it said, acts at their own risk. It also repeated its standing warning that dealing with unregistered, unregulated entities exposes people to fraud and the possible loss of their money.
Finally, the SEC asked the public to check the registration status of any company offering investments before sending money. It points people to two lists on its website: registered fintech operators and registered capital market operators (CMOs).
Who is WayvePay?
WayvePay is not an unknown website that appeared overnight. According to a Nairametrics partner post from 18 September 2026, Bankit Microfinance Bank renamed its platform WayvePay that day. The brand offers savings, transfers, cards, business accounts and USSD banking.
That background matters. The SEC’s notice is about capital market activity, meaning taking money from the public to buy shares or other investments. It does not say anything about WayvePay’s ordinary banking services, which fall under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), not the SEC. TechPeza found nothing in the notice about customers’ savings or transfers, and we have not seen any CBN action against the bank.
At the time of writing, TechPeza could not find a public response from WayvePay or Bankit to the SEC notice.
Why this is tied to the Dangote IPO
The Dangote refinery offer has been one of the biggest money stories in Nigeria this year. Reuters described it as Africa’s largest share sale yet, and the refinery is aiming for up to 10 million retail investors.
Here are the main terms, from the SEC notice, Reuters and Nairametrics:
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Issuer | Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE |
| Shares on offer | 4.1 billion new ordinary shares |
| Price | ₦525 per share |
| Minimum application | 10 shares (₦5,250) |
| Target raise | About ₦2.15 trillion (around $1.6 billion) |
| Opened | Monday 14 September 2026 |
| Scheduled close | Tuesday 13 October 2026 |
| Lead issuing house | Vetiva Advisory Services |
| Approved digital channels | About 55: 20 banks, 2 mobile money operators, NGX Invest and 32 fintech and investment firms |
The refinery wants to use the money to expand the refinery, which processes about 700,000 barrels of crude a day, towards 1.4 million barrels a day by 2029, according to Reuters.
To reach millions of first-time investors, the offer was built around phone apps, not paper forms. That is new for Nigeria. According to Nairametrics, the Investments and Securities Act 2025 opened the door for platforms other than stock exchanges to carry share offers, and banks, fintechs and investment apps rushed to sign up as approved channels.
The flip side is obvious. When dozens of apps legitimately sell the same shares, it becomes harder for ordinary people to tell an approved channel from one that has simply announced itself. That is the gap the SEC is trying to close.
Not the first warning on this offer
The SEC has been fighting misleading Dangote IPO marketing for months.
- 23 June 2026: Before any application had even been filed, the SEC issued a cease-and-desist directive. It ordered operators to pull “pre-IPO” adverts within 24 hours and refund any money already collected.
- 14 September 2026: On the day the offer opened, the SEC published an investor notice telling people to use only approved channels and to ignore WhatsApp messages, calls or adverts promising guaranteed or preferential allocations.
- 9–10 October 2026: The WayvePay notice.
The Commission has also issued a steady stream of other “suspected fraudulent activities” notices this year, including against Voya Investment Management in January and Gvest Global and related entities in August.
What this means for Nigerians
If you have already applied for Dangote shares, or plan to before the deadline, here is what to keep in mind.
1. Check that your channel is on the approved list. A well-known brand, a nice app or a big newspaper advert does not prove a platform can take IPO money. The SEC says plainly that having a website, an app or a social media page does not make anyone an approved channel. Use the official offer information and your bank, stockbroker or a registered investment app.
2. Check the SEC’s registers yourself. Two free pages on the SEC website matter most: the registered fintech operators list and the registered capital market operators list at sec.gov.ng/cmos. If a platform taking investment money is on neither, stop and ask questions.
3. Know what a real application looks like. For this offer, approved channels ask for your BVN and details to link or create a CSCS account, which is where your shares are held. Be wary of anyone who just asks you to transfer money to a personal or business account with no CSCS details.
4. Ignore “guaranteed allocation” offers. In an oversubscribed IPO, nobody can promise you a set number of shares. The SEC has repeatedly flagged such promises as red flags.
5. If you have already paid through WayvePay for shares, contact the platform in writing and keep your receipts and screenshots. You can also contact the SEC at sec@sec.gov.ng or on its published lines, +234 209 462 1168 and +234 916 772 3240. Because WayvePay is a microfinance bank brand, complaints about the banking side can also go to the CBN’s consumer protection channels.
6. Watch your account after the offer closes. Allotment and listing come later. The listing date has not been confirmed. Any message saying you must pay a “processing fee” to receive your shares should be treated with extreme suspicion.
There is also a wider lesson for the fintech industry. Digital channels have made it possible for a trader in Kano or a student in Enugu to buy shares from a phone with ₦5,250. That is real progress. But the same openness is easy to exploit, and regulators will judge digital distribution by how well it protects first-time investors. Expect tighter SEC rules on who can advertise share offers after this IPO.
What about Ghana and Kenya?
The Dangote offer is open to Nigerian investors through Nigerian channels. Readers in Ghana and Kenya should be especially careful of any app or social media page claiming to sell Dangote shares to them directly. Each country has its own regulator: the Securities and Exchange Commission in Ghana and the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya both publish lists of licensed firms.
What happens next
The offer is scheduled to close on 13 October. After that, the issuing houses will count applications, the SEC will need to clear the allotment, and shares should then be listed. A listing date has not been confirmed.
TechPeza will update this story if WayvePay responds or if the SEC takes further action.
This is news, not financial advice.
Sources
- SEC Nigeria: Suspected Fraudulent Activities of WayvePay (10 October 2026)
- SEC Nigeria: Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Initial Public Offering (14 September 2026)
- SEC Nigeria: Cease and desist directive on purported Dangote refinery offering (23 June 2026)
- SEC Nigeria: Registered fintech operators
- Reuters via Engineering News: Dangote launches oil refinery IPO, Africa’s biggest share sale
- Nairametrics: SEC disowns WayvePay, warns Nigerians against investing through platform
- Premium Times: SEC warns Nigerians against investing with unregistered WayvePay
- Nairametrics: Dangote IPO sparks record digital platform race
- Nairametrics: Bankit transitions to WayvePay
About the author: Steve Oke is the editor of TechPeza, where he covers AI tools, electric vehicles, home power, fintech and smartphones for African readers.
