Nigerians are putting more money into crypto and gambling than into the capital market

Nigeria is watching its market base thin out while crypto plays and gambling drain the wallets that once could have fueled real investment.

The African country’s national regulator says household money is leaving the productive market and flooding into fast-profit channels that rarely give anything back. The scale is daily, constant, and big enough to quite literally dictate how the economy behaves.

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, said that more than a quarter of Nigeria’s nearly 240 million people stake a combined $5.5 million every day on gambling platforms.

At the same time, fewer than three million people invest in the capital market. Agama said more than $50 billion in crypto transactions passed through Nigeria between July 2023 and June 2024, adding that the habit is driven by double-digit inflation, a naira that has lost almost 70% of its value since May 2023, and the fact that more than half of the population lives in poverty.

People want money fast, so they just move to anything that looks like a quick return.

Gambling and crypto rise while the capital market loses ground

Agama said fewer than 4% of the Nigerian adult population are active investors in the capital market. Yet more than 60 million people gamble every single day. He said this has pushed the value of listed assets to only 30% of the country’s GDP.

The SEC compared it to other places: South Africa is above 300%, Malaysia is above 120%, and India stands at about 90%. He said the gap limits the country’s ability to raise money for development.

Agama explained that Nigeria faces a yearly infrastructure financing shortfall of about $150 billion, while the market is contributing very little to close that gap.

Agama said, “An appetite for risk clearly exists, but not the trust or access to channel that energy into the productive sector.” He called the trend an obstacle to economic growth and capital formation.

He also pointed out that people are not avoiding risk, they are choosing risk that promises immediate gain rather than risk that requires patience.

Gambling, crypto trading, foreign exchange speculation; they are now daily habits. To address this, President Bola Tinubu signed a new investment and securities law earlier in the year.

Agama said the law brings assets like crypto under regulation, not banning them, but recognizing that they are already embedded in the financial system.

The SEC said it wants to create new financial products and use technology to make investment easier for everyday Nigerians.

Revisiting a decade-old market plan

Agama discussed the Capital Market Masterplan (CMMP) that was launched in 2015, saying the vision was to make the market a main driver of long-term growth, but mockingly asked what has been achieved so far.

According to him, less than half of the 108 planned initiatives were completed, thanks to weak tracking, poor coordination with national plans, and low stakeholder commitment.

The SEC listed these as the problems affecting its next phase:-

• Low retail participation
• High market concentration
• Reduced foreign investment
• Unused pension assets
• Diaspora money that remains outside the market, and;
• The $150 billion yearly infrastructure gap that remains open.

Agama said, “Vision without execution is inertia, and reform without measurement is aspiration without accountability.”

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