The Director-Normal of the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, has disclosed that over $50 billion price of cryptocurrency transactions flowed by means of Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024.
He stated the event underscored the sophistication and threat tolerance of buyers that the standard market was but to seize, in keeping with a press release that was issued by the fee on Sunday.
Agama, in a lead paper titled ‘Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025’ offered on the annual convention of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, nonetheless, raised concern over the alarmingly low participation of Nigerians within the conventional capital market, revealing that fewer than 4 per cent of the nation’s grownup inhabitants have been energetic buyers.
He described the low participation charge as a serious obstacle to {economic} development and capital formation.
He famous that whereas fewer than three million Nigerians spend money on the capital market, greater than 60 million have interaction every day in playing actions, spending an estimated $5.5 million every single day.
“This reveals a paradox, an urge for food for threat clearly exists, however not the belief or entry to channel that vitality into productive funding.”
Agama additionally lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stands at about 30 per cent, far under South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent, and India’s 92 per cent, a disparity he stated highlights the pressing must deepen {financial} inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.
Recalling the imaginative and prescient of the ten-year CMMP launched in 2015, the SEC boss stated it was designed to reposition Nigeria’s capital market because the engine of {economic} transformation by mobilising long-term finance for infrastructure and enterprise growth.
“At present, as we stand on the sundown of that ten-year plan, our process is just not ceremonial; it’s reflective and diagnostic. We should ask: what did we obtain, the place did we fall quick, and what classes should anchor our subsequent decade of reforms?” he acknowledged.
Agama disclosed that lower than half of the 108 initiatives beneath the CMMP have been totally achieved, blaming restricted alignment with nationwide growth plans, insufficient monitoring metrics, and weak stakeholder possession for the shortfall.
Regardless of progress in areas comparable to Inexperienced Bonds, Sukuk, fintech integration, and non-interest finance, he stated market liquidity stays concentrated in a number of large-cap shares like Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, and MTN Nigeria.
Agama, who listed six key challenges for the following section of reforms, pointed at low retail participation, market focus, falling overseas inflows, underutilised pension property, untapped diaspora capital, and a widening infrastructure financing hole.
“Nigeria’s $150 billion annual infrastructure deficit far exceeds the market’s contribution, with solely N1.5 trillion authorised in PPP bonds. This reveals a misalignment between {financial} innovation and nationwide priorities,” he noticed.
The DG known as for a “reimagined SEC” that serves as each regulator and enabler of private-sector-driven development, including that the following decade should give attention to trust-building, transparency, and inclusion.
“Imaginative and prescient with out execution is inertia — and reform with out measurement is aspiration with out accountability,” Agama declared.
