SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF NGX GROUP, ALHAJI DR UMARU KWAIRANGA AT THE SYMPOSIUM ‘FOR THE LOVE OF OUR COUNTRY (FLOC) 2025 AT BUK KANO.
THEME: Reimagining Nigeria’s Economy for a Prosperous Future: Where We Were, Where We Are, and Where We Should Be in the Next Decade.
DATE: JUNE 5, 2025.
Protocol:-
When I assumed office as Chairman of the NGX Group in October 2022, one of my targets was to deepen and broaden our market, and its a goal that we have been working towards assidously. On that 5th day of October, 2022, the All Share Index ASI was 48,837 basis point and market capitalisation was N26.375 trillion. As at the end of May 2025, the ASI closed at 111,742 basis point and market capitalisation was N70.463trillion. Infact if we add the bonds, the market capitalization has increased to over ₦121 trillion as of May 30, 2025, with equity and bond markets valued at over ₦70.463 trillion and ₦50.577 trillion respectively.
So, we have made some progress by more than doubling the indices of our both equity and bonds markets over the last couple of years. However, our current goal is even more ambitious.
When President Tinubu revealed his vision for Nigeria to grow its GDP to at least one trillion dollars by 2030, we keyed into that vision and are determined that the capital market will be at the centre of that drive to a trillion dollar economy and that our indices will grow in tandem with that vision.
Why is a much bigger Nigerian capital market an imperative? A thriving capital market encourages the savings and investment that are key to rapid economic growth. It helps to finance much needed infrastructure as it matches long term funds with projects that need long term finance. A bigger capital market will encourage formalisation and proper structuring of businesses which will in turn aid better performance and enable such businesses contribute in measurable ways to the Nigerian economy. Above all, a nation’s capital market should mirror its economic potential, but that has not been the case in Nigeria where huge chunks of the economy are unrepresented or under represented in the capital market. Our market capitalisation is less than 20% of Nigeria’s GDP. Compare that to South Africa where the market capitalization of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange exceeds the GDP of the country.
So what are we doing and what more can we do to expand our capital market. We are working in conjunction with our regulators, especially the Securities and Exchange Commission, to make our market more efficient and transparent. Such efforts are in the areas of dematerialisation of share certificates, clearing the unpaid dividend backlog and shortening time to market of primary issues. Just this week, SEC announced a reduction in clearing days for secondary market transactions to a T+2 , a move that will enhance efficiency and liquidity in the capital market.
We are pursuing new listings in the public sector, oil and gas and other sectors. The government has affirmed its commitment to sell a stake in NNPC Limited and we are confident of listing Dangote Petrolchemicals very soon. These are transactions that will increase our market capitalisation geometrically and attract many local and foreign investors to invest in the market.
We are introducing digital and technological innovations to attract our youth base who are used to doing everything on their mobile devices. We took a huge step in this direction last year by launching our NGX Invest ,a digital platform for primary market offers which has been very useful for the ongoing banking recapitalisation. We are enhancing the professionalism and skills of our trading license holders through regular training courses at our X Academy and at the same time engaging in financial literacy outreaches to students, corpers and the younger generation.
The capital market community is also making engagements with wholesale investors such as pension fund administrators and mutual funds to increase their stake in the market and at the same time engaging in product development to meet the needs of such sophisticated investors. In recent years, we have introduced exchange traded funds, derivatives, ethical funds, and more fixed income products. There are sections of the capital market that offer commodities and currency forwards. We are also part of an ongoing initiative to link African Exchanges across borders so that a Nigerian investor can buy shares of a company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange from his broker in Nigeria and vice versa.
In this and many other ways, we are working to have a capital market that is broader, deeper, more liquid and more sophisticated and that meets the needs of Nigerian and global investors.
There are of course challenges such as the decline in the disposable income of Nigerians, poor infrastructure that slows our technological innovations and the ripples to the global economy caused by the current US administration, but we are confident that these can be overcome and that we will meet our goal of a much bigger capital market that Nigeria deserves before the decade runs out.
Thank you for listening.
Alh (Dr) Umaru Kwairanga
Chairman NGX Group.
