Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General Imomotimi Agama has revealed that over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions transited through Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024.
This huge value of cryptocurrency transactions in a single year highlights the sophistication and risk tolerance of investors that the traditional market has not yet achieved.
Agama, in a major paper titled “Evaluation of the Nigerian Capital Market Masterplan 2015-2025” presented at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), however, expressed concern over the alarmingly low participation of Nigerians in the traditional capital market, revealing that less than four percent of the country’s adult population are active investors.
He described low participation rate as a major hindrance to economic growth and capital formation.
He said that while less than three million Nigerians invest in the capital markets, more than 60 million engage in gambling activities daily, spending an estimated $5.5 million every day.
Also Read: SEC, FMDQ say Nigeria has emerged as a major player in cryptocurrency
“This reveals a paradox, the appetite for risk clearly exists, but the confidence or access to put that energy into productive investment is not there.”
Agama also lamented that Nigeria's market capitalization-to-GDP ratio stands at about 30 per cent, much lower than South Africa's 320 per cent, Malaysia's 123 per cent and India's 92 per cent, adding that this disparity highlights the urgent need to deepen financial inclusion and rebuild investor confidence.
Recalling the vision of the ten-year CMMP launched in 2015, the SEC boss said it was designed to position Nigeria’s capital market as an engine of economic transformation by mobilizing long-term finance for infrastructure and enterprise development.
“Today, as we stand at the conclusion of that ten-year plan, our work is not formal; it is reflective and diagnostic. We must ask: What did we achieve, where did we fall short, and what lessons should we take into our next decade of reforms?” He said.
Agama revealed that less than half of the 108 initiatives under the CMMP were fully achieved, attributing the shortfall to limited alignment with national development plans, inadequate tracking metrics and weak stakeholder ownership.
Despite progress in areas such as green bonds, Sukuk, fintech integration and non-interest finance, he said market liquidity remained concentrated in a few large-cap stocks such as Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria.
Agama, who listed six key challenges for the next phase of reforms, pointed to low retail participation, market concentration, declining foreign inflows, underutilized pension assets, untapped diaspora capital and a growing infrastructure funding gap.
He said, “Nigeria's $150 billion annual infrastructure deficit far exceeds the market's contribution, with only N1.5 trillion in PPP bonds approved. This reflects a misalignment between financial innovation and national priorities.”
The SEC Director General called for a “reimagined SEC” that acts as both a regulator and promoter of private sector-driven development, and said the next decade should focus on confidence-building, transparency and inclusion.
He declared, “Vision without implementation is inertia – and reform without measurement is aspiration without accountability.”
