The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, has revealed that Nigeria witnessed over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions between July 2023 and June 2024, highlighting the increasing sophistication and risk appetite of local investors many of whom operate outside the traditional capital market framework.
Speaking while delivering a lead paper titled: ‘Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015–2025’ at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Agama expressed concern over the low level of participation of Nigerians in the conventional capital market.
He disclosed that fewer than four percent of the country’s adult population are active investors, describing the situation as a major barrier to economic growth and capital formation.
While fewer than three million Nigerians invest in the capital market, Agama noted that over 60 million citizens engage daily in gambling activities, collectively spending around $5.5 million every day. “This reveals a paradox,” he said. “An appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into productive investment.”
The SEC DG also lamented that Nigeria’s market capitalization-toGDP ratio, currently at about 30 percent, remains significantly lower than that of its peers South Africa (320 percent), Malaysia (123 percent), and India (92 percent). He stressed that this gap underscores the urgent need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.
Reflecting on the Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) launched in 2015, Agama said the ten-year blueprint was conceived to reposition Nigeria’s capital market as the engine of economic transformation, capable of mobilizing long-term finance for infrastructure and enterprise development. “As we stand at the sunset of that ten-year plan, our task is not ceremonial but 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 stated. According to him, less than half of the 108 initiatives outlined under the CMMP were fully implemented. He attributed the shortfall to poor alignment with national development goals, weak performance tracking, and limited stakeholder commitment.
Despite achievements in areas such as Green Bonds, Sukuk issuances, fintech integration, and noninterest finance, Agama noted that market liquidity remains overly concentrated in a few large-cap stocks like Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, and MTN Nigeria.
