ABUJA, May 14 – Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission is deploying a sweeping technology and data-driven reform agenda to reposition the country’s capital markets, as regulators seek to align Africa’s largest economy with a global shift toward artificial intelligence-led investing.
Speaking at the FSDH Investor Conference in Lagos, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama said investment performance will increasingly depend less on capital size and more on the quality of intelligence, data and technological systems guiding decisions.
Agama said artificial intelligence, real-time analytics, distributed ledger technology and algorithmic systems are already transforming global financial markets, pushing Nigeria’s regulator toward what he described as one of its most ambitious modernization programs to date.
At the center of the strategy is a seven-pillar capital market infrastructure framework that includes plans for T+1 settlement cycles, tokenized securities, digital assets regulation and expanded derivatives markets. The SEC said the measures are intended to accelerate settlement efficiency, deepen liquidity and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness for domestic and international capital.
The Commission is also designing AI governance standards for market operators centered on transparency, accountability and algorithmic fairness, as regulators move to ensure automated investment systems remain understandable and trustworthy to investors.
Nigeria’s broader fintech-bank integration plan aims to bring about 20 million retail investors into formal capital markets by expanding access beyond institutional and wealthy participants to small businesses, artisans and lower-income earners.
Agama said the reforms represent more than a technology upgrade, positioning Nigeria’s capital market for a future where data infrastructure increasingly shapes capital flows.
The SEC added that enhanced enforcement, investor education and expanded protection systems will remain core to sustaining confidence as the market opens to wider participation and deeper innovation.
