Less than 4% Nigerians invest in capital market —SEC DG

By Obas Esiedesa

Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, yesterday, raised concern over the alarmingly low participation of Nigerians in the capital market, revealing that fewer than four per cent of the country’s adult population were active investors.

Agama in a lead paper, title ”Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025,” presented at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, described the low participation rate as a major impediment to economic growth and capital formation.

In a statement by the commission, Agama noted that while fewer than three million Nigerians invest in the capital market, more than 60 million engaged daily in gambling activities, spending an estimated $5.5 million every day.

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

Agama also lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stood at 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 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.

“Today, as we stand at the sunset of that ten-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?” he queried.

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 remained concentrated in a few large-cap stocks such as Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria.

Agama, who listed six key challenges for the next phase of reforms, pointed at 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.

He added 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 the traditional market had yet to capture.

The DG called for a “reimagined SEC” that served as both regulator and enabler of private-sector-driven growth, adding that 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.

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