Nigerian SEC to leverage blockchain for capital markets
Dr. Agama’s latest comments come amidst uncertainties in the Nigerian crypto space. A Binance executive remains in detention in Nigeria.
Director General of Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr Emomotimi Agama said that the SEC will promote public awareness of investment in the Nigerian capital market and enhance the adoption of blockchain technology for market development.
The pro-crypto SEC chief said this during a meeting with the Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (ACMAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, June 13.
The details
- Dr. Agama highlighted that the SEC is planning to launch an awareness campaign to engage more Nigerians, especially the youth, which he believes would boost wealth creation and enhance living standards by increasing market participation.
- Additionally, he revealed that the SEC is planning to establish a capital market radio to reach out to Nigerians, including students, and educate them on investment opportunities. Furthermore, it intends to introduce a call-in program for immediate responses to investment-related queries.
Key quote
- According to Agama:
“I am a major enthusiast in blockchain. We will strive to popularize, propagate, and try to support it because that is the investment interest of that demography, and we must follow them up in line with section 13A of the ISA which gives us the power to regulate Investments and Securities business in Nigeria,”
Why it matters
- This is not the first instance Nigeria’s capital market folks are talking up blockchain. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) had previously talked about plans to launch a blockchain-based trading platform. Although the bourse’s chief said the platform would be ready in 2023, the said platform is not live yet.
- In addition, in May 2023, the Nigerian government introduced the National Blockchain Policy, following a strategy developed over two and a half years by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.
- Also, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his pre-election manifesto, expressed plans to integrate blockchain technology into key sectors such as banking, finance, identity management, and revenue collection.
Blurry lines
- Dr. Agama’s latest comments come amidst uncertainties in the Nigerian crypto space.
- Earlier in the year, the Nigerian government cracked down on peer-to-peer trading. The exercise started with Binance and led to the discontinuation of its peer-to-peer trading feature and the arrest of two executives, one of whom is still in detention. This crackdown resulted in other exchanges also halting their services.
- The government was concerned that P2P trading could further weaken the naira due to market manipulations. There were worries about how P2P merchants set exchange rates.
- In May, the Nigeria Senate Committee on the capital market had called for the regulation of cryptocurrency operations in the country. The committee emphasized that since Nigerians were actively trading in crypto and could not be stopped, there was a need to regulate the market.
