SEC decries low Nigerian participation in capital market

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama, has expressed concern over the low level of Nigerian participation in the country’s traditional capital market, revealing that less than four percent of adults are active investors.

Agama made this known while presenting a paper titled “Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan 2015–2025” at the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers’ (CIS) annual conference in Abuja.

According to a statement by SEC on Sunday, Agama described the situation as a paradox, noting that although Nigerians display a strong appetite for risk—evident in the over 60 million people who collectively spend about $5.5 million daily on gambling—they lack the trust or access to invest productively in the capital market.

He further highlighted that Nigeria’s market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stands at about 30%, far below South Africa’s 320%, Malaysia’s 123%, and India’s 92%, underscoring the need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.

Reflecting on the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) launched in 2015, Agama said the plan aimed to reposition the capital market as a driver of economic growth by mobilising long-term funds for infrastructure and enterprise development.

“As we reach the end of that ten-year plan, our task is reflective and diagnostic. We must ask what we achieved, where we fell short, and what lessons should guide the next decade of reforms,” he said.

Agama disclosed that fewer than half of the 108 initiatives under the CMMP were fully implemented due to weak alignment, limited performance tracking, and inadequate stakeholder ownership.

While acknowledging progress in areas such as Green Bonds and fintech integration, he noted that market liquidity remains concentrated in a few large-cap stocks like MTN, Airtel Africa, and Dangote Cement.

He identified low retail participation, market concentration, declining foreign inflows, underutilised pension assets, untapped diaspora capital, and a widening infrastructure financing gap as major issues to address in the next reform phase.

Agama also drew attention to Nigeria’s $150 billion annual infrastructure deficit, contrasting it with the mere ₦1.5 trillion approved in public-private partnership (PPP) bonds, which he said illustrates “a misalignment between financial innovation and national priorities.”