Only 5 million Nigerians invest in capital market — Oteh

Only about five million Nigerians have invested in the capital market, Ms Arunma Oteh, Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has said. Oteh disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the commemoration of 50 years of Capital Market Regulation in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

“Current statistics reveal that only about five million Nigerians out of a population of 150 million people invest in the capital market. Of this total, only 23,000 people, representing 0.15 per cent of the total population invest in collective investment schemes,’’ she said.
According to her, there is great opportunity for growth in this aspect of the market both for investors and the managers of the funds.

She said that the commission had intensified effort to strengthen market by examining fund managers and trustees and had also encouraged the establishment of an industry trade group for fund managers. The SEC director general said that Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had been strengthened through the appointment of a new management team.