The Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers has called on Nigeria's capital market operators, policymakers and regulators to shift their focus from improved market infrastructure and capital mobilisation towards financing productive investments, expanding businesses and creating jobs. The Institute, marking its 30th Annual Conference in Lagos, inducted 509 Associates in its largest professional membership intake on record, elevated 63 members to Fellowship and launched a N5bn endowment fund for research, professional education and human capital development.
The Institute's President and Council Chairman, Dr Fiona Ahimie, said the success of the market should be measured by more than market capitalisation and transaction volumes. She stated that success should also reflect contributions to infrastructure development, industrial growth, employment generation and improved living standards. She described the capital market as a bridge between savings and businesses requiring long-term financing, arguing that capital mobilisation must translate into productive investments capable of generating sustainable economic growth.
Despite the market raising N6.49tn in 2025, the top 10 listed companies accounted for approximately 72 per cent of total market value, with market capitalisation representing about 37 per cent of gross domestic product. Bolaji Balogun, Chief Executive Officer of Chapel Hill Denham, cautioned that improved infrastructure alone would not deepen the market, calling for more quality listings, wider investor participation and innovative instruments including project bonds, infrastructure funds, Sukuk, green and orange bonds, and convertible securities. He also urged the Federal Government to integrate the capital market into privatisation and infrastructure concession programmes.
The National Pension Commission's Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, identified pension assets as a major source of long-term capital for infrastructure, business expansion and employment generation. She warned that investments must be guided by prudence, sustainable returns and protection of contributors' retirement savings. The Debt Management Office's Director-General, Patience Oniha, advocated deeper participation in the domestic bond market and called for debt capital to be deployed productively to finance infrastructure and generate economic returns.
Nigeria's financing challenge is structural, according to Otunba Francis Meshioye, Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. He stated that the problem was not the availability of capital but the limited channels through which funds reach productive enterprises. To address Nigeria's estimated $2.3tn infrastructure deficit, he advocated greater mobilisation of pension funds, infrastructure bonds, green bonds, Sukuk and public-private partnerships, alongside long-term financing for manufacturers and alternative energy investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission's Director-General, Dr Emomotimi Agama, disclosed that the Commission was deploying sophisticated technological solutions to strengthen market surveillance, enhance regulatory oversight and detect market abuses to protect investors.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu endorsed the N5bn CIS Endowment Fund, pledging state government support and disclosing that Lagos had raised more than N200bn through the capital market to finance infrastructure development. NGX Group Chairman Alhaji Dr Umaru Kwairanga urged stockbrokers to move beyond transaction execution and become proactive facilitators of economic development. For savers, borrowers, business owners and investors, success of Nigeria's capital market in creating productive investments and employment directly affects economic growth, business expansion opportunities and job availability.