Nigeria witnessed cryptocurrency transactions exceeding $50 billion between July 2023 and June 2024, according to the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama.
With an exchange rate of N1,500 to the Dollar, the amount translates into N75 trillion, about two-thirds of the capitalization of the Nigerian equities market capitalization currently at N98.8 trillion as of Friday, October 24.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Agama said the sheer volume of digital asset activity underscores both the financial sophistication and risk appetite of Nigerian investors — a demographic the traditional capital market has failed to attract.
Despite this vibrant crypto engagement, the SEC boss lamented that fewer than four per cent of Nigeria’s adult population actively invests in the country’s capital market, describing this as a “critical drag on economic growth and capital formation.”
While less than three million Nigerians are registered market participants, he noted, over 60 million citizens engage daily in gambling, wagering an estimated $5.5 million every day.
“This paradox is revealing,” Agama stated. “An appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into productive investment.” He warned that the dominance of speculative culture over structured investment reflects a deeper erosion of confidence in the nation’s financial ecosystem.
A decade of unfulfilled promises
Reflecting on the Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) 2015–2025, Agama described the ten-year blueprint as an ambitious effort to position Nigeria’s capital market as the engine of long-term economic transformation through infrastructure and enterprise financing. However, as the plan nears its sunset, he urged sober reflection over celebration.
“Today, our task is not ceremonial; it is reflective and diagnostic,” he said. “We must ask: what did we achieve, where did we fall short, and what lessons must anchor our next decade of reforms?”
According to him, less than half of the 108 initiatives envisioned under the CMMP were fully realized hindered by poor alignment with national plans, weak monitoring mechanisms, and limited stakeholder ownership.
Agama acknowledged progress in select areas such as Green Bonds, Sukuk, fintech integration, and non-interest finance, yet lamented that market liquidity remains narrowly concentrated in a handful of blue-chip equities, including Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, and MTN Nigeria. He stressed that this imbalance limits depth and diversity, leaving vast sectors undercapitalized and discouraging retail engagement.
Call for a reimagined SEC
Nigeria’s market capitalization-to-GDP ratio, standing at 30 per cent, pales in comparison with South Africa’s 320 per cent, Malaysia’s 123 per cent, and India’s 92 per cent, Agama observed. This gulf, he argued, underscores the urgency of deepening financial inclusion and mobilizing domestic capital for national development. With an annual infrastructure deficit of $150 billion, and only N1.5 trillion approved in PPP bonds, the country’s capital market contribution, he said, remains “alarmingly modest.”
Outlining six priorities for the next reform cycle, Agama identified low retail participation, market concentration, declining foreign inflows, underleveraged pension assets, untapped diaspora capital, and the infrastructure financing gap as the core challenges ahead. He urged a “reimagined SEC” that functions not merely as a regulator, but as an enabler of private-sector-driven growth, focused on trust-building, transparency, and inclusivity.
“Vision without execution is inertia — and reform without measurement is aspiration without accountability,” Agama declared. “If we can channel even a fraction of our speculative energy into productive investment, Nigeria’s capital market can become the lifeblood of its economic renaissance.”
