Kayode Tokede

Director-General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, has lamented that while fewer than three million Nigerians invested in the capital market, more than 60 million engaged daily in gambling activities, spending an estimated $5.5 million every day.

Agama made the revelation in a lead paper, titled, “Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025,” presented at the annual conference of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.

He said, “This reveals a paradox, an appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into productive investment.”

He disclosed that over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions flowed through Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024, underscoring the sophistication and risk tolerance of investors that the traditional market has yet to capture.

Agama raised concern over the alarmingly low participation of Nigerians in the traditional capital market, revealing that fewer than four per cent of the country’s adult population are active investors.

He described the low participation rate as a major impediment to economic growth and capital formation.

Agama also lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio was about 30 per cent, far below South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent, and India’s 92 per cent, a disparity he said highlighted the urgent need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.

Recalling the vision of the 10-year CMMP launched in 2015, the SEC boss said it was designed to reposition Nigeria’s capital market as the engine of economic transformation by mobilising long-term finance for infrastructure and enterprise development.

Agama said, “Today, as we stand at the sunset of that 10-year plan, our task is not ceremonial; it is reflective and diagnostic. We must ask: what did we achieve, where did we fall short, and what lessons must anchor our next decade of reforms?”

Agama disclosed that less than half of the 108 initiatives under CMMP were fully achieved, blaming limited alignment with national development plans, inadequate tracking metrics, and weak stakeholder ownership for the shortfall.

Despite progress in areas, such as Green Bonds, Sukuk, fintech integration, and non-interest finance, he said market liquidity remained concentrated in a few large-cap stocks, like Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, and MTN Nigeria.

Agama listed six key challenges for the next phase of reforms to include retail participation, market concentration, falling foreign inflows, underutilised pension assets, untapped diaspora capital, and a widening infrastructure financing gap.

He said, “Nigeria’s $150 billion annual infrastructure deficit far exceeds the market’s contribution, with only N1.5 trillion approved in PPP bonds. This shows a misalignment between financial innovation and national priorities.”

The SEC director-general called for a “reimagined SEC” that would serve as both regulator and enabler of private-sector-driven growth. He added the next decade must focus on trust-building, transparency, and inclusion.

“Vision without execution is inertia – and reform without measurement is aspiration without accountability,” he declared.

​