The Securities and Change Fee (SEC) has unveiled an formidable 2026 agenda centred on mobilising long-term capital to confront Nigeria’s continual infrastructure deficits.
The brand new agenda is approaching the heels of the quick previous 12 months that noticed overwhelming reliance by corporates on short-term financing devices akin to business papers.
In a New 12 months message delivered in Abuja on Thursday, SEC Director-Basic, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, mentioned the Fee will prioritise channeling affected person capital into productive sectors like roads development, energy, rail, housing, and agriculture.
This strategic shift could require modernising regulatory frameworks to make markets extra accessible for long-term issuers.
Agama is just saying that facilitating the issuance of infrastructure bonds, municipal bonds, inexperienced bonds, and infrastructure-focused funds can be prime precedence in 2026 pipeline.
The intention, based on him, is channelling steady capital into precedence nationwide tasks.
“Our purpose is to draw long-term home and worldwide capital into roads, energy, rail, housing, and digital infrastructure, whereas making it simpler for state governments and infrastructure corporations to entry the market effectively,” he mentioned.
Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit is estimated by numerous authorities and private-sector research at over $100 billion. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Fee (ICRC), a federal authorities company, has famous that Nigeria requires about $100 billion yearly over the approaching many years to shut its infrastructure deficit and drive {economic} growth via enhanced infrastructure provisioning.
This widening infrastructure hole continues to manifest in dilapidated roads, erratic energy provide, inadequate rail networks, housing shortages exceeding 20 million items, and gradual broadband penetration.
The SEC believes elevated mobilisation of long-term financing can be vital in reversing years of underinvestment in these vital sectors.
As a part of its expanded agenda, the Fee will promote listings of agribusinesses and develop tailor-made itemizing home windows for agricultural cooperatives and value-chain corporations. It additionally plans to increase commodity-linked devices to cut back pricing threat, enhance farmer incomes, and bolster meals safety.
“We’ll de-risk agriculture via commodity exchanges, agricultural funding trusts, and progressive {financial} devices that enable Nigerians to personal a stake within the nation’s breadbasket,” Agama said in his new 12 months message.
Within the housing sector, the SEC intends to revive Actual Property Funding Trusts (REITs) and introduce inexpensive housing bonds, which the DG mentioned will “unlock capital for mass housing supply” and broaden funding choices.
Agama additionally disclosed that the SEC is reviewing its guidelines to draw extra listings from small and medium-sized companies in manufacturing, automotive, prescribed drugs, and completed items. The transfer is anticipated to offer affected person capital to struggling factories, cut back import dependence, and strengthen the Made-in-Nigeria worth proposition.
On energy, he mentioned the Fee will assist capital raises via infrastructure bonds, inexperienced power bonds, project-backed securities, and public–non-public autos focused at grid growth, renewable power tasks, embedded era, and Nigeria’s broader power transition objectives.
Agama mentioned the 12 months 2026 represents not only a calendar transition however a possibility to redefine the capital market’s objective in nationwide growth.
“We glance again at a 12 months of transformation and ahead to a future the place our capital market turns into the definitive answer supplier for Nigeria’s most urgent {economic} and developmental wants,” he mentioned.
With Nigeria’s infrastructure and financing gaps widening, the SEC’s 2026 roadmap alerts a deliberate shift towards long-term capital formation—an important prerequisite if the capital market is to play its supposed function in driving sustainable {economic} progress.
The SEC’s strategic shift comes on the heels of a 2025 market cycle closely dominated by short-term capital raises, reflecting the liquidity squeeze confronted by corporates and {financial} establishments.
All year long, dozens of companies turned to business papers—usually tenored between 90 and 270 days—to fulfill operational bills because of the problem of accessing long-term funds in a high-interest-rate surroundings. In reality, the Fee authorised Industrial Paper programmes value over N1.3 trillion as of October 2025.
Market analysts have warned that the mismatch between short-term funding and long-term capital wants heightened refinancing dangers and constrained funding in sectors requiring affected person financing, notably infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy. The SEC’s 2026 focus seems designed to appropriate that imbalance.
