The director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr Emomotimi Agama, has 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, in a lead paper titled ‘Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025′ presented at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), raised concern over Nigerians’ alarmingly low participation 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 significant impediment to economic growth and capital formation.
He noted that while fewer than three million Nigerians invest in the capital market, more than 60 million engage in daily gambling activities, spending an estimated $5.5 million. This paradox reveals a clearly existing risk appetite but not the trust or access to a channel that channels energy into productive investment.
Agama also lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stands at about 30 per cent, far below South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent, and India’s 92 per cent. He said this disparity highlights the urgent need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.
Recalling the vision of the ten-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 disclosed that less than half of the 108 initiatives under the 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 remains 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: low retail participation, market concentration, falling foreign inflows, underutilised pension assets, untapped diaspora capital, and a widening infrastructure financing gap.
“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,” he observed.
The DG called for a ‘reimagined SEC’ that serves as both regulator and enabler of private-sector-driven growth, and added that the next decade must focus on trust-building, transparency, and inclusion.
