Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, has expressed concern over the low level of participation in Nigeria's capital market, revealing that fewer than three million Nigerians invest, compared to over 60 million who engage in gambling daily—spending an estimated $5.5 million each day.
Agama made the disclosure while presenting a lead paper titled "Evaluating the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015–2025" at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
"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.
He also noted that over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions passed through Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024, reflecting a sophisticated and risk-tolerant investor base that the traditional market has yet to capture.
Agama described the low participation—less than 4% of Nigeria's adult population—as a major constraint to economic growth and capital formation. He lamented that the country's market capitalisation-to-GDP ratio stands at about 30%, far below that of South Africa (320%), Malaysia (123%), and India (92%).
Reflecting on the Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) 2015–2025, he said fewer than half of its 108 initiatives were fully implemented due to weak alignment with national priorities, poor monitoring, and limited stakeholder ownership.
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While acknowledging gains in Green Bonds, Sukuk, fintech integration, and non-interest finance, Agama stressed that market liquidity remains concentrated in a few large-cap stocks such as Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, and MTN Nigeria.
He identified six critical areas for reform in the next decade: retail participation, market concentration, falling foreign inflows, underutilised pension assets, untapped diaspora capital, and a widening infrastructure financing gap.
Agama emphasised the need for a "reimagined SEC" that functions as both regulator and enabler of private-sector-led growth. "Vision without execution is inertia, and reform without measurement is aspiration without accountability," he declared.
