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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is pushing towards broadening retail investor participation and leveraging technology to deepen market access across all income demographics with a planned launch of new Capital Market Master Plan 2.0 at its 2026 National Capital Market Conference in Abuja.
The capital market regulator disclosed in a release on Wednesday that the conference will also launch the National Savings Scheme, a retail-focused platform designed to broaden participation in the capital market.
Vice-President Senator Kashim Shettima is expected to attend as Special Guest of Honour, while Finance Minister, Taiwo Oyedele, will serve as Chief Host at the conference expected to hold mid-October at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
History of strategic market planning:
The new Master Plan 2.0 builds on the legacy of the original 10-year master plan launched in 2014, which was revised in 2022 to reflect dynamism in the market and developments in financial technology, according to prior reports.
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- The Master Plan 2.0 represents the third iteration of Nigeria’s capital market development roadmap.
- In January 2022, the SEC announced plans to unveil a revised version of the 10-year Capital Market Masterplan to account for market dynamism and innovations in FinTech, Nairametrics reported.
- That revision process culminated in November 2022, when the Commission launched the Revised Capital Market Master Plan 2015-2025 (RCMMP), developed in collaboration with stakeholders.
- The original 2015-2025 Master Plan focused on post-2008 financial crisis recovery and governance reforms.
The revised iteration incorporated technology and inclusion imperatives. The 2.0 version now prioritises retail democratisation—a deliberate strategic shift toward expanding capital market access beyond institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
Market inclusion strategy:
SEC Director-General Dr. Emomotimi Agama framed the Master Plan 2.0 as foundational to the National Savings Scheme, a retail-focused investment vehicle designed to provide Nigerians across income groups with opportunities to save and invest for the future.
Agama noted that tax incentives will be embedded in the scheme to encourage participation, aligning with the Federal Government’s fiscal policy direction of providing tax relief for citizens earning below specified thresholds.
- “The National Savings Scheme is principally an inclusion tool: every Nigerian is given the opportunity to save, and those savings will be invested for the future,” Agama said.
This savings sheme echoes the SEC’s broader commitment to financial inclusion.
Recently, the SEC launched the spoken-word version of the Investments and Securities Act 2025 (ISA 2025) in December 2025, aimed at enhancing public understanding of the law and making it more accessible to Nigerians, further underlining the agency’s push for broader market participation.
Conference deliverables:
Beyond the Master Plan 2.0 launch, the October conference will feature:
- Presentations from Capital Market Committee Technical Working Groups
- Inauguration of the NCMMP 2.0 Project Steering Committee
- Inauguration of the Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Committee
These structures establish accountability mechanisms for execution; a lesson learned from previous plan cycles where implementation lags often frustrated stakeholder expectations.
The Master Plan 2.0 represents a maturation of the SEC’s developmental mandate.
Rather than focus solely on market size and international competitiveness, the new roadmap prioritises accessibility and financial inclusion.
The embedding of the National Savings Scheme within the broader Master Plan framework suggests the SEC views retail participation as essential to sustainable capital market growth with emphasis on technology, financial literacy, and tax-incentivised saving vehicles for retail investors.
