Economy
Capital Market Without Participation of Youths Doomed to Fail—SEC
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for the strong participation of youths in the capital market, stressing that they play a vital role in the ecosystem.
The Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, during a meeting with a team led by the British Deputy High Commissioner in Abuja last Friday, said efforts would be made to make the market attractive to the young ones.
According to him, the commission is implementing various initiatives to ensure that products and offerings in the market are accessible to both the young and old.
“When we assumed office, we were shocked to know that the average age of the Central Securities Clearing System account holder was over 50 years. The CSCS is a depository so if you are investing in equities you must have a CSCS account.
“The average age of that account holder was over 50, and that made us realise that the young people were not participating in this market and when young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail. And young people today prefer to do things on their phones, if you have to fill a stack of forms manually, young people won’t do it. We want to make investing in the capital market a fun experience.
“The capital market experience starts with a bank account and eventually the distribution has to hit a bank account as well. So, we decided to look at the whole process and find out what is turning young people off. We have started the process and seen how the tech companies are providing much-needed relief to the kind of bureaucracy that happens in the capital market,” he said.
Mr Yuguda disclosed that the SEC recently approved an e-offer for MTN and expressed the excitement of the agency that Nigerians especially those of the younger age bracket were able to participate in the offer.
“It was marvellously successful and we are very excited about it. A lot of young people who had never invested in the capital market took the MTN offer. That is one of the first steps in a lot of steps we are going to take to make investing in the capital market a much nicer experience for people both young and old. We know we can move quickly and faster once we strengthen our IT infrastructure to do a lot more,” he said.
“In this market what we have seen is that where people do have ready access to interesting products in the regulated market they then gravitate towards the parallel markets and the Ponzi schemes and really the task of the commission is to as much as possible move money to the regulated market away from the Ponzi schemes,” the SEC DG added.
He stated that with e-offers, a lot of Nigerians would be happy to invest in the capital market and that would dissuade people from patronising illegal schemes thereby leading to the development of the capital market and the Nigerian economy.
Mr Yuguda also stated that the commission, in its drive to attract more people to the market, is focusing on a proper identity management system which would also aid in the reduction of the issue of unclaimed dividends.
“One area we recognised we needed to attend to is the lack of proper identity management system in the market and this is an area the commission has really focused on.
“We have had over the past few decades a lot of unclaimed dividends in the market and we thought that identity management could help solve the problem.
“I believe if we are able to do this to a logical conclusion it could unlock a lot more investors because I think the fact that people have money in the capital market and have not been able to claim them, it is not only bad for the people who have this money but it is also a disincentive for those trying to come in because they do not want their money to be trapped,” he stated.
The DG commended the relationship between the agency and the UK government the commission and Nigeria, which he stated has contributed to the growth and development of the capital market.
In his remarks, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones, canvassed the need for the SEC to create more alternative options for investments for all classes of people as one of the ways of pulling people away from unregulated space.
He said, “The more you can create alternative options the easier it is to pull people away from unregulated space and that is why the Sandbox is so attractive to us and why we encourage it. We come across these fintech players and they are formidably driven in their vision.
“But we get a sense they need to work with regulators to make it work and they recognise that it’s the right way to be attracted to investment and grow the way they want.
“They are formidably talented as well and it is really encouraging. We are very keen to work with you and your approach and that’s very heartening and the appetite for innovation is what has attracted us to that the most.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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